The raw food conundrum

There’s been a lot of fuss lately about so-called “movements” in the area of food and nutrition. There’s the “slow-food “ movement (folks think that’s good), the “organic-food” movement (nutritionally no better, but if it makes you more comfortable, OK), and the “raw-food” movement (at best, a load of hooey; at worst, dangerous). The theory behind the raw-food fetish is that food contains enzymes necessary for their digestion; when you raise the temperature around these foods (that is, cook them), the argument is that you thereby destroy the enzymes and thus render the food incapable of delivering its nutrients to your body. Worse than that, it’s claimed, the foods rot inside you and are then deposited as fat on your unwitting thighs. The hogwash contained therein is refuted simply by the fact that the body itself provides all the enzymes necessary for digestion. End of story.

The potential harm that will befall an adherent of the raw-food philosophy (and I’ve seen a famous model wax eloquent on the subject, forgetting that being beautiful doesn’t make one a nutrition specialist) is, of course, exposure to deadly pathogens. Never mind the notion that raw veggies are always better for you; they aren’t. When carrots and tomatoes, for example, are cooked, their cells are ruptured and their most important nutrients are rendered more available to the body. This isn’t to suggest that you should avoid raw veggies; it simply points out that what seems logical doesn’t always hold true in nutrition.

Bacteria, however, are another question. And here I’m going to devote myself to the topic of raw milk…an issue that keeps raising its ugly head. I’m sure you’ve all heard of dairy farmers and their families who have consumed milk from their own farm without benefit of pasteurization, and have never suffered ill effects. There are two possible explanations here: 1.: they’ve developed an immunity to the various pathogens present in their herd, and 2.: they’ve been lucky…much like the guy who never wears a seat belt and hasn’t had the need for it since he’s never been in an accident.

Raw-milk advocates claim it to be more healthful than pasteurized milk and say that the heat process destroys nutrients. Like most fraudulent claims about nutrition, there’s a kernel of truth here. Modern high-temperature, short-time pasteurization barely affects nutrients, but it can diminish the amount of the most fragile vitamins in milk, thiamine and ascorbic acid, or vitamin C. As it happens, milk contains very little of these two vitamins to begin with and their loss is essentially inconsequential. Those consuming a varied diet based on their country's Food Guide will have no problem getting adequate amounts of these vitamins from other food sources. As for the many other nutrients in milk, the pasteurization process has no significant detrimental effects on them or on their absorption.

Even under the best of sanitary dairy practices, disease-producing organisms may enter raw milk accidentally from environmental and human sources. Milk and milk products are pasteurized as an additional safeguard of the consumer’s health. Basically pasteurization is the heating of raw milk in properly approved and operated equipment at a sufficiently high temperature for a specified length of time to destroy pathogenic bacteria. The process also destroys yeasts and moulds and inactivates most enzymes that might cause spoilage through the development of off-flavours. In a nutshell, the, pasteurization makes milk bacteriologically safe and increases its keeping quality.

A relatively new kid on the block is the process of ultra-high-temperature treatment, or UHT. This method involves thermal processing at or above 138 degrees Celsius for at least two seconds before or after packaging. UHT ensures the destruction of all micro-organisms with the possible exception of non-pathogenic, highly heat-resistant spores. It does all this without significantly changing the nutritive value of the milk, and as a bonus, the milk doesn’t need to be refrigerated until it’s opened. I always keep a couple of cartons of UHT milk on hand in case, for some reason, we run out of the usual stuff.

The latest entry in the milk-purification process is something called micro-filtration, in which all bacteria, even the corpses of bacteria destroyed by pasteurization, are removed.
There are many other aspects regarding milk purity and the maintenance thereof that we could discuss, but since this is a column on the folly of the raw-food movement, I’ll save that for another time.

Some people have questioned me about the advisability of steak tartar and sushi, both of which have grown in popularity. Regarding the steak tartar, if is to be consumed in a restaurant, then you don’t need me to tell you that it should be an establishment whose credentials for cleanliness are above reproach. Incidentally, the reason that one can eat steak raw, but never hamburger, is that the former offers much less surface area on which bacteria can grow. Hamburger should always (especially if being served to young children) be cooked to the well-done stage. As for sushi (more properly sashimi), the rules for a restaurant that knows what it’s doing still apply. If you want to prepare it at home, then the fish should be well frozen before hand so that any unwelcome critters (worms) will be killed. Freezing won’t kill bacteria, but if you’ve bought the fish fresh from a reputable dealer, that shouldn’t be a problem. Despite the popularity of raw oysters (and I love them), I have to advise against eating them raw. You might be lucky enough to avoid illness, but you never know. Broiled with a bit of spinach, cheese and Tabasco sauce, they taste almost as good.
Fruits and vegetables that are to be eaten raw should always be washed beforehand; even if they’re to be sliced prior to peeling, you should wash them, since the knife can carry a gazillion little bugs with it on its way through the pulp. The bottom line is that nature is not always as benign as we would like her to be. Common sense plays an important role here, and the notion that all our food should be raw just doesn’t make any…sense, that is.