Terminology and Tostitos Salsa

...Apparently I do have reliable internet until I leave for the bicycle adventure...so why not blog?

A few weeks ago I was cleaning the household's recycling area, when I spotted a jar lodged in the back of one of our cupboards. It was a Tostitos salsa jar with about two table spoons of salsa still in it. It had not been washed out and placed in its proper receptacle. This name -brand salsa is an odd thing for our household to have, and I realized that jar must have been there for a minimum of two months. Aside from the repulsion one might feel, what really struck me was that the salsa in the jar emitted no odor, contained no mold, no discoloration, and its texture – I daresay looked as edible as it would have upon being first purchased.

So today my grandpa was describing the leeching that had occurred in his old place of work - an aerosol plant. "In the old days " they dumped the toxins, black, and grey water into one single septic tank until the EPA got a hold of them and the plant must now filter the aquifer's contaminants 'round the clock. So I was thinking about this, water, chemicals, decomposition and the body in general -And was struck with a vision of the ever-so-delicious Tostitos salsa.

I investigated and apparently Tostitos salsa has no preservatives in their “All Natural” line and are flashed with high heat to kill off any standing bacteria -making them suitable for grocery shelves. If this is true, and the only method of preserving without preservatives (verb vs. plural noun), then the salsa should quickly turn after it is opened, and certainly not have lasted for months in the back of a cupboard. Another possibility is that the tomatoes and other vegetables are stewed in vinegar before “heat preserved” which would extend its shelf life once its opened…such as with pickles.

Doing this research lead me to discover a process called Food Irradiation. Wikipedia – “Food irradiation [1]is the process of exposing food to ionizing radiation to destroy microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, or insects that might be present in the food. Further applications include sprout inhibition, delay of ripening, increase of juice yield, and improvement of re-hydration.”

Basically manufacturers zap your food to kill and delay the “bad stuff.” My questions are: Does Tostitos use this technique? But more importantly: Are preservation processes separate and apart from claims of “no preservatives”? – The verb vs. the noun. Can a potentially harmful or at least scientifically inconclusively not-harmful (according to wiki) methodology be masked by our terminology? Common sense tells me “yes.” I have no idea if Tostitos uses the food irradiation technique or not. (Data on this is dificlut to find online). I think we can all agree that a mixture of tomatoes, onions, jalapeno peppers, salt and yes…vinegar and “natural flavor” see here natural vs artifical flavors – (my hyperlink key is dead due to Gram’s JavaScript sorry for the unclean URLs gang http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=130) – ought to go bad after two months unrefridgerated. Having made my own salsa, not that much vinegar is used…certainly not compared to pickling.

Anyway, email me if you have any thoughts or theories on this – and good eats . :)