Buying tea and sugar
Any suggestions regarding purchasing tea not contaminated with radiation? I have been contacting companies to determine where there tea is purchased from and am crossing off my list any company that responds with legal mumbo jumbo. I am also crossing off my list any company that tells me they have a propietary mix and therefore can not reveal the country of origin of their products. I also wonder how much radiation contamination would be in sugar produced in Hawaii? While sugar may not be good for us, it is in almost everything we eat.
More on Sugar and Tea
Hi all...
1. Sugar can also come from sugar beets, grown in Idaho, Utah, and probably other places as well. These areas already deal with fading contamination issues from all the above ground nuke tests of the last century, If you can get cane sugar from Florida, that is probably the best. Beet sugar is considered an inferior sugar to cane sugar. Personally, I can't tell the difference, but there is a difference in the chemicals and process used to exttract the sugar from the two different products.
2. Beware of honey as a substitute. Bees collect more than pollen (think fallout particles) on their little legs when they visit flowers. I would think that honey would be something to avoid for a while. Also, beware of maple syrup... when plants take up radioactivity in soils, the only way they can transfer the radioactivity from the soils to fruits and leaves is through their sap... in the case of maple trees, we call the sap maple syrup.
3. Regarding tea, there are types of black tea grown south of the equator you can check web sites for tea purveyors to find teas that come from different parts of the world. I just bought some from Kenya. Have you tried red rooibos from South Africa? Beware of branded teas (aka Lipton, Tepley, etc.) and also generic black teas or tea blends (english breakfast, earl grey, etc). These teas are often created by blending teas from all over the world. The tea company I am dealing with right now *may* be willing to tell me when the teas they are now selling were harvested, but they are not likely to tell me where the teas are from or what teas are included in a particular blend... they consider that info to be a trade secret. If you are willing to place a large enough order with a tea purveyor, they might be willing to work with you on this topic, so you can be assured of getting pre 3/11 harvested teas. Ask for documentation on the teas... The person I spoke to (major specalty tea purveyor) was adamant that no reputable farmer in Japan would ship tainted teas because it would destroy their reputation forever. In an ideal world of completely ethiccal people, this would be true. Unfortunately, the fact that Japan DID ship tainted teas to France with the blessing of elected officials is a reflection on human nature... when circumstances are desperate, people will do whatecer they think they need to do to survive.
4. Japan mainly exports green tea, so you probably want to avoid green teas if at all possible. According to a recent article in www.worldteanews.com the Japanese are voluntarily restricting tea shipments to those having 500 Bq/kg or less (not including the shipment that went to France). The FDA permits up to 1200 Bq/kg in tea. It is good to know that the Japanese government is more concerned about our health than our own government. Of course, I'd rather have tea with NO added man made contamination.
5. As we know, radiological contamination can spread... therefore, I plan to avoid any teas grown in the northern hemisphere or along the equator for at least a few years. So... I am laying in my tea stocks now. This may be overkill, and completely unnecessary, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. It can't hurt to take steps to reduce my internal exposure, considering that I won't be able to avoid all exposure. Every little reduction helps. I am a total tea junkie and drink a lot of it. I absolutely could not give up my tea, though it will be a bummer having to drink it without milk for a while. :-(
Very significant questions....
I agree these are very important questions. Because it was the fourth of July, I had a very small dish of pistachio ice cream. I felt so happy to eat something like this as I have not had any milk or dairy products since Fukushima, with the exception of some aged pecorino here and there.
All I can say is avoid sugar, and products that have sugar. Use agave syrup. For the teas. I am very disappointed as I contacted Synergy GT Kombucha and they refused to give the source of the tea used in the drinks they sell.
I would suggest shopping at a C0-Op if you have one in your neighborhood. I shop at the Ocean Beach People's Food CO-OP and most of the tea is in bulk, and grown locally. I know California had huge fall out, but still it is better than Japanese tea. I have not bought any tea yet, we still have a lot of tea at our house that is pre-Fukushima. But you can as the guy here Bill Duff he said something about tea in Australia. Just put up a new topic directed towards him, or maybe he will read this and post the company's name here for you.
Anyway these are good points thank you as we know sugar is in a lot of products, and comes from Hawaii. My buddy here tells me a lot of sugar is grown in the Caribbean. Also, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Cuba, Mexico, India, Pakistan, Argentina, China, Phillipines, and of course Hawaii. I think it might be cheaper for the US to get it's sugar from S. America than from Hawaii. But that is just a guess.