zaping foods you are eating them daily

[CIDP]

Food irradiation has been authorised in the UK since the early 1990’s
but still I don't like the idea that the food I eat today may have
been submerged in gamma rays generated by radioactive cobalt
yesterday.

Somehow gamma rays just don't sound very appetizing. Or safe.

Authorities want us to believe that irradiation of food is quite safe.
So safe, in fact, that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently
approved the irradiation of spinach and iceberg lettuce.

Here's what Dr. Laura Tarantino, director of the FDA's Office of Food
Additive Safety, told the New York Times: "These irradiated foods are
not less safe than others."

Really? That weak "praise" is how you try to convince us to eat
irradiated food?

Maybe we can understand why Dr. Tarantino seems so tentative with a
check of a few other comments about irradiation safety.

Quote... unquote

Bill Freese
Science Policy Analyst, Centre for Food Safety

"Food irradiation is a pseudo-fix. It's a way to try to come in and
clean up problems that are created in the middle of the food
production chain. I think it's clearly a disincentive to clean up the
problems at the source."
(Chicago Tribune)

Mr. Freese sharpened his point with this quote for NutraIngredients-
USA: "Irradiation is not the solution to food-borne illness. In fact,
it serves to distract attention from the unsanitary conditions of
industrial agriculture that create the problem in the first place."

Caroline Smith DeWaal
Food Safety Director, Centre for Science in the Public Interest
"The agency is choosing to have a high-tech expensive solution to a
problem that needs a more thorough approach and one that really starts
on the farm."
(New York Times)

Ronnie Cummins
National Director, Organic Consumers Association
"It's the latest in a series of PR moves designed to mislead the
public from the fact that the government is asleep at the wheel here."
(Chicago Tribune)

Patty Lovera
Assistant Director, Food and Water Watch
"It's a total cop-out. They don't have the resources, the authority or
the political will to really protect consumers from unsafe food."
(New York Times)

Goodness guaranteed (to be reduced)

Then there's the nutrition issue, which has been mostly overshadowed
by safety questions.

Bill Freese told the Los Angeles Times: "It's deceptive. An irradiated
product looks normal but has invisible reductions in vitamins and
nutrients."

And that's exactly what HSI Panellist Dr. Allan Spreen said "Any
electromagnetic radiation strong enough to kill undesirable elements
in food is easily strong enough to do the same thing to desirable
elements. Denaturing of enzymes, destruction of desirable bacteria,
elimination of vital nutrients are all events that will be proven to
occur."

And you'll never guess who agrees with Dr. Spreen and Mr. Freese: the
FDA.

Here are two quotes from the FDA's recent final rule for the
irradiation of spinach and iceberg lettuce:

"Levels of certain vitamins, on the other hand, may be reduced as a
result of irradiation."

"Vitamin A has been identified as one of the most radiation-sensitive
of the fat-soluble vitamins."

All in the family

Spinach and iceberg lettuce are not the first members of the
irradiation family. Several years ago, the FDA approved the use of
irradiation of meat, poultry, dried spices, and molluscan shellfish
(oysters, clams, scallops, mussels, etc.).

Problem is, the FDA requires that packages of irradiated foods carry a
"radura" logo (oddly, the image of a flower in a circle) along with
the statement: "Treated with irradiation." This has been scaring away
many customers, so the FDA is considering a proposal to ease off on
labelling guidelines.

In the UK, only correctly labelled irradiated herbs, spices or
vegetable seasonings can be traded. When irradiated food is not pre-
packed and is sold for immediate consumption (for example, in
restaurants) it must be marked or labelled on a menu, notice or ticket
that the consumer can see when choosing the food.

One president of a company that irradiates food told the New York
Times, "People think the product is radioactive."

No, we don't think it's radioactive. We just think it's a really bad
idea.