FDA approves irradiated produce

FDA approves irradiated produce

Does your salad glow in the dark? You might want to hit the lights and check, because for the first time ever, the FDA is allowing fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce to be zapped with radiation in order to kill bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.

Puts a whole new spin on "nuking" your food, doesn't it? The goal, as with most wrongheaded ideas, is to "protect" consumers. And as usual, the FDA has chosen incorrectly. Are you surprised?

The fact is, irradiation turns even the most nutritious foods into junk foods. While it's true that the process kills the fungi, parasites, and bacteria that can cause spoilage and disease, this it also obliterates the good stuff in food, too. These discoveries put me squarely in the anti- irradiation camp. And I've been there ever since.

Luckily, I'm not alone. Many food safety advocates have also bashed the FDA's decision to allow produce irradiation, pointing out that it decreases the taste and nutritional value.

Of course, the FDA has taken the polar opposite side of the argument
the FDA's Office of Food Additive Safety, said irradiation made no significant nutritional or safety changes to spinach or lettuce.

The FDA's announcement of this decision comes hard on the heels of this summer's nationwide outbreak of Salmonella Saint Paul, which sickened hundreds. Of course, the source of this most recent outbreak was traced to a farm in Mexico… where they won't be irradiating the produce.

So I guess the FDA wants to ensure that only domestic produce is rendered nutritionally empty, tasteless, and possibly toxic. Nice.

What's more, the studies conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) have found that many of the outbreaks and sickness associated with tainted produce are the result of viruses which CAN'T BE KILLED by the irradiation process. So irradiation is a double whammy – useless AND dangerous!

Unfortunately, the awful process of irradiating food is nothing new. For years, the FDA has allowed the irradiation of beef, poultry, eggs, spices, and even oysters. But the market is small because these foods need to carry labels that let consumers know they've been exposed to high doses of radiation.

As a result, people tend to steer clear. Because even though the public at large may not know the details of just how bad irradiation is for food – they know it doesn't sound natural. Consumers are never as stupid as the high-and-mighty FDA would like to believe they are.

But the FDA, in its infinite stupidity, is said to be considering downgrading or removing the labeling requirement on irradiated food.

Now you know I always err on the side of natural first. So what I wonder is why the FDA would opt to let food processors zap food with a shocking amount of radiation when there are natural solutions to the problem of food contaminates? According to S. D. of CSPI, the FDA "is choosing to have a high-tech, expensive solution to a problem … that really starts on the farm."

It's clear to me that the FDA has allowed Big Agriculture to install an expedient solution. The alternative would be for this sluggish and notoriously under-staffed bureaucracy to put its agents in the field and do the hard work of controlling food contamination the right way – at the source.

Instead, the FDA took the easy route – as it often does – and our food will be less nutritious for it.

Always glowing after a good FDA rant,

[Sunes]

Pretty soon we all are going to be subjected to radiation and GLOW in the dark.  What a bunch of idiotic ideas it's all under the coat of saving public from diseases ......did you know that the radiated meat will not rot it will get slimy and sour..because there is no bacteria to start the decomposing  process?!!! but not radiated meat will after few days?

You post really good information and   if only people  would read and take a lesson from this ??? it would make a difference to change something in their lives..
I am for prevention instead of superficial cure with modern drugs..
Take care, Sunes.

[margypops]

Me too , all the information is good we used to get it from a masked guy is that you deep diver?

[Bob_D]

Irradiating food does not make food radioactive, so doing so will not make food "glow in the dark".

[deepdiver]

Hello Bob,
I know Irradiating foods will not cause them to glow! I'm just being a wise guy.
I have no use for the FDA