During our visit to the Bay Area, my 13 yr old nephew wanted to visit Jelly Belly Factory. Candy-making is quite a production. On our way to Jelly Belly, we noticed a “Olive Tasting” sign and thought the would be interesting. It proved to be so . . . . even for a 13 yr old who could not get enough of their fine tasting olive oil. This is what we learned:
Dirty Secrets About Many Olive Oils
Extra Virgin Olive oil may be cut with canola oil, vegetable oil, older olive oil, soybean oil or hazelnut oil and not be labeled as such.
Olive oil leaves and twigs are left in the olives during the time of pressing. This created a false green color, “green taste” and fakes polyphenol content by a bitter taste.
Olives are pressed with fruit fly larvae in the olives. Most often this oil is found at farmers markets.
Imported oil is labeled as California EVOO(Extra Virgin Olive Oil).
Food coloring is added to olive oil to create a deceptive appearance.
Lower grade oil is labeled EVOO.
EVOO from third world countries are marked as though they came from Italy.
Rancid olive oil is sold as fresh oil.
Olive oil is sold as organic EVOO and it is not.
Unrealistic made up use by date stamped on EVOO.
Fact: There are no olive oil inspectors in the government.
The US government does not set standards for the quality of olive oil. This is done by private organizations such as the International Olive Oil Council.
Your Olive Oil Is Most Likely NOT As Healthy as You Think!
There is a 50% chance you may have bought olive oil that is older than one year.
Your oil might be of a good quality, however it has a low polyphenol content.
Your olive oil may have been adulterated.
I you eat fiber with olive oil, you have cancelled the oil’s health benefit.
There is a 9 out of 10 chance that one or more of these statements apply to your olive oil.
Red Flags About Olive Oil
If the olive says or implies that it came from Italy, it most likely does not.
It it has a use by date. There are no standards for this date.
If the company makes light(lite) oil, all of it’s products are in question.
If the oil comes in a green bottle, it might be hiding something.
If the price is too low.
If the bottle says first pressed, cold pressed or cold processed.
Fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil available through Sepay Groves. They have a membership program(which is free) that entitles you to a 10-15 % discount. And they can deliver EVOO right to your home 4 times a year(plus shipping charge). Here is there link: Sepay Grove Club Membership Information.
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“Clean drinking water is something that the public has pretty much taken for granted for the past hundred years. The public has little idea -perhaps understandably- just how contaminated our drinking water has become. Our environment has changed, new biological transformations are emerging, drinking- water systems are aging, and governments seem more interested in ensuring business in the global marketplace than in ensuring the safety and health of the world citizens.” Nedelee Ruiz
National Assessment of Tap Water Quality found 260 contaminants in our nation’s tap water.
According to chemical listings in seven standard government and industry toxicity references; 141 contaminants have no enforceable safety limits, 52 are linked to cancer, 41 to reproductive toxicity, 36 to developmental toxicity, and 16 to immune system damage. Despite the potential health risks, any concentration of these chemicals in tap water is legal, no matter how high.
The EPA’s own scientists have identified 600 chemicals in tap water formed as by -products of disinfection- they tracked 220 million pounds of 650 industrial chemicals discharged to rivers and streams annually.
Intensive use of highly acidic antibiotics in human and veterinarian medicine and in industrial farming (food additives) has resulted in the transport of significant quantities of the active ingredients to environmental waters. All told, EPA has set safety standards for fewer than 20 percent of the many hundreds of chemicals that it has identified in our drinking water.
By failing to clean up rivers and reservoirs that provide drinking water for hundreds of millions of Americans, EPA and the Congress have forced water utility companies to decontaminate water that is polluted with industrial chemicals, factory farm waste, sewage, pesticides, fertilizer, and sediment.
In its most recent national Water Quality Inventory EPA found that 45 percent of lakes and 39 percent of streams and rivers are “impaired”–unsafe for drinking, fishing, or even swimming, in some cases. Many of these compounds enter the human body through our skin when we bathe or swim.
Even after water suppliers filter and disinfect the water, scores of contaminants remain, with conventional treatment regimes removing less than 20 percent of some contaminants. By failing to set tap water safety standards expeditiously or require and fund comprehensive testing, EPA allows widespread exposures to chemical mixtures posing known risks to human health.
Survey found 82 unregulated pharmaceuticals, hormones, medications, and residues of consumer products in rivers and streams across the country.
Top 10 chemical compounds in US drinking water:
Atenolol, a beta-blocker used to treat cardiovascular disease.
Atrazine, an organic herbicide banned in the European Union, but still used in the US, which has been implicated in the decline of fish stocks and in changes in animal behaviour.
Carbamazepine, a mood-stabilizing drug used to treat bipolar disorder.
Estrone, an oestrogen hormone secreted by the ovaries and blamed for causing gender-bending changes in fish.
Gemfibrozil, an anti-cholesterol drug.
Meprobamate, a tranquilizer.
Naproxen, a painkiller and anti-inflammatory linked to increases in asthma incidence.
Phenytoin, an anticonvulsant that has been used to treat epilepsy.
Sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic used against the Streptococcus bacteria, which is responsible for tonsillitis and other diseases.
If this is something that you are concerned about, I know of someone who has solutions for all of your water needs. They offer ionizers and they offer pre-filters of every kind to filter out any potential contaminate in your water system. They even offer to read your community water report and tell you exactly what filters are appropriate for your needs. The Water Experts
Are you drinking reclaimed sewer water? In Orange County, California they have announced that by June of 2008 they will be distributing reclaimed sewer water to your tap!
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