Aurora Merchandise Natural Walnuts, 30 OZ

Fresh and tasty
I bought chopped walnuts at the grocery store for years, but read that pesticide gets sprayed on the nuts AFTER they’re removed from the tough outer shells! Aurora walnuts are organically grown, so I assume they’re not sprayed.At any rate, the nuts are really fresh and taste very good, plus the current price is a good one for organic walnuts. They arrive usually cut only in halves, so i chop them up some more with a chef’s knife to make smaller pieces for salads, soups and snacking.

Crunchy and fresh!
Love these. Always fresh and crunchy. Staple in our house.

Do Your Homework (for all)
This will be brief and to the point in hopes this serves to inform. To begin with, currently function as a certified wellness practitioner of multiple modalities with a vast experience and resource regarding foods, herbs, supplements, and an ongoing involvement with the research and information which shadows food representation, image, adulteration, mislabelling, misrepresentation, new processing trends, language changes, and subtle protocol and policy changes commonly hidden and unseen.These walnuts are attractive to the consumer relative to cost. The package states “unroasted”. These walnuts do not look, smell, or taste like any walnuts eaten prior. The walnuts literally taste like they are coated. They are darker than even the same variety would appear, and uncommonly sweeter. Due to this unusual quality two lengthy calls with Aurora provided the following: “While the walnuts are not coated, flavored, superficially flavor enhanced, they and all their products utilize a ‘non-steam pasteurization process’ called Neo-Pure.” As this does not allow a legal use of the term ‘raw’, ‘unroasted’ is used, which does not say what they are or what if any process or enhancement has been applied or engaged. (it is worth researching current laws and trends regarding the constantly changing legal use of terms such as ‘raw’ or ‘natural’ and what foods are involved, as well as how processing and labelling laws which affect one nut may not affect another nut largely due to regional, corporate, and lobbying interests.)While the Neo-Pure site is easy to access, the exact ingredients for their patented “chemical bath” are nowhere on the site or in their downloadable brochure. An online group with many years dedicated to food safety and true organic and non gmo has done deep research and what is copied and pasted here are their findings:What is Neo-Pure pasteurization? Neo-Pure pasteurization is a process of using Neo-Pure, a liquid solution, to control pathogens in nuts and seeds. According to Agri-Neo, the company who invented this technology, the process involves the following steps; Apply Neo-Pure onto seeds and grains in the Applicator to ensure uniform coverage. Hold for a period of 12-24 hours to achieve maximum efficacy. Dry off free H2O by-product on surface of seeds and grains back to original moisture levels in a Dryer.There are a few things caught my eyes: The Neo-Pure solution is derived from plants. After Neo-Pure is applied, it biodegraded into H2O.If these are all true, this pasteurization is indeed a good process (even though I don’t know whether it is better than just steam pasteurization or micro-radiation).So what is the Neo-Pure solution? Based on the only resource I can get, on April 12 2017 FDA issued “Environmental Decision Memo for Food Contact Notification No. 1743”. The notification evaluated environmental impact of the solution that has been used for the pasteurization process. In this memo, FDA disclosed Neo-Pure is a solution of an aqueous mixture of peroxyacetic acid (PAA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), acetic acid (SA), and 1-hydroxyethylidine-1, 1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP). Out of the four chemicals, PAA, H2O2 and SA can be found in the natural bioreaction. I do not see a reference that HEDP can be found or derived from plants. Out of the four chemicals, only H2O2 can biodegrade to O2 and water. There is no way for the other three to just degrade to “free water”. PAA and H2O2 are all category 3 carcinogen. So this Neo-Pure pasteurization is more of a PPO process to the almond industry.From the memo, we also learned after the solution is applied, “the seeds and nuts shall be subject to either a rinse with potable water or a water-ethanol mixture”. This after treatment rinse makes sense if we look closely to the active chemicals in Neo-Pure solution, but definitely not necessary if the only after treatment material is “free water”.The marketing material from Agri-Neo said the antimicrobial process is approved by FDA. But the only approval I can find publicly for this is this environmental decision memo which concludes the treatment as described in the memo “is not expected to significantly affect the human environment”. I would like to see more information about the chemical residual after the treatment, the impact on human body and the 5-log pathogens reduction validation.There are customers asked me about this pasteurization method. Based on the current information I can get, I would rather stay with steam or even microradiation methods. This is my recommendation!The conclusion is based on my own research. I welcome any comments or update about this topic.

Delicious fresh Walnuts!
Taste great and stay fresh in the container (save the sealing disc under the lid).