Is Food Irradiation Safe?

                In the United States, there are at least 10 million cases of food poisoning reported annually due to deadly bacteria such as Salmonella. About 9000 of those cases are fatal. Medical treatment and loss of worker production cost the nation billions of dollars each year. During the past several decades, the food processing industry and the federal food and drug administration have supported the use of food irradiation to reduce the danger of food poisoning. Food is irradiated to destroy harmful bacteria or insects in or on the food and to stop the natural process of ripening. During irradiation, gamma rays passing through the food break chemical bonds among atoms and destroy the genetic material in microbes or insects, preventing them from reproducing. Gamma rays also break the bonds of some food molecules. However, irradiation is not radioactive, just as you are not radioactive after undergoing dental X rays! Still, the debate rages about the safety of irradiated food.

                Of course, food irradiation is not necessary to kill harmful organisms in food. Proper and thorough cooking kills harmful organisms in or on food including both Salmonella and Trichinella, which can infect pork and cause trichinosis in humans. Opponents further point out that irradiation may actually result in accidental food poisoning. In some cases, irradiation may kill organisms that signal spoiled food, without killing other truly dangerous organisms. Therefore, a food may look and smell fresh because the odor-causing organisms have been killed by irradiation, however, disease-causing organisms may still infect the food. 

                 Evidence from Iowa State University Food Safety Research Project has shown that irradiation lessens the nutritional value of food by causing a loss of vitamins (Food). Some people think that this loss of nutrients in irradiated food may have serious consequences. Scientists from the project noted that food exposed to gamma rays loses vitamin A, C, and E, and certain B vitamins. Another study found that animals fed irradiated food lost weight, wand that pregnant animals often miscarried - probably because of the food's reduced vitamin E content (Food). 

               Although food irradiation can have negative effects, those in favor of food radiation point out the great value and efficiency of irradiation in wiping out harmful insects and microorganisms that infect food. Irradiated, sterilized food is particularly beneficial for people whose immune system is impaired. In answer to the charge that irradiation destroys nutrients, the proponents reveal that cooking food also destroys some nutrients. Also, the nutrient loss caused by iradiation is generally slight. Most scientists from the Food and Drug Administration agree that food irradiated with 10,000 rads or less of gamma rays shows little or no nutrient loss, even of easily destroyed vitamin C (The Facts). At greater than 10,000 rads, irradiated food exhibits nutrient loss that is, according to the FDA, generally no more than the loss that occurs in canned or frozen foods.

                 FDA scientists do admit that some of the radiolytic products (RP's or free radicals) that are of concern to opponents are in fact known cancer-causing agents (Brennand). However, the RP's occur in very minute amounts in irradiated food. In a 1980 study from the Center for Consumer Research at the University of California-Davis, there were no more than 30 parts per million of RP's found in the irradiated food tested (Food). Most of these RP's turned out to be identical to naturally occurring food substances, and so were considered safe. 

                 In the end, the benefits of food irradiation far out way the negative effects. The Food and Drug Administration has approved irradiation of meat and poultry and allows its use for a variety of other foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables, and spices. The agency determined that the process is safe and effective in decreasing or eliminating harmful bacteria. Irradiation also reduces spoilage bacteria, insects and parasites, and in certain fruits and vegetables it inhibits sprouting and delays ripening. The controversy over food irradiation may, perhaps, best be summed up by an irradiation proponent, Charlotte p. Brennand, PhD and Extension Food Safety Specialist who said "Food irradiation is so good for food because it is so dangerous for everything that lives."

Works Cited

            Brennand, Charlotte P. "Food Irradiation." Food Irradiation. Radiation Information Networks, Mar. 1995. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. <http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/food.htm>.

            "Food Irradiation." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, 2 July 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. <http://www.epa.gov/radiation/sources/food_irrad.html>.

            "The Facts about Food Irradiation." The Facts about Food Irradiation. UW Food Irradiation Education Group, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. <http://uw-food-irradiation.engr.wisc.edu/Facts.html>.