The 1997 recall of 25 million pounds of hamburger meat from a major meat processing plant in Nebraska added fuel to the fire. Irradiating foods does produce a very small amount of unique radiation products-about three milligrams per kilogram of food, equivalent to three drops in a swimming pool (Derr 1999).
Even something that was toxic, and these substances have not been shown to be, would not be dangerous at that level. In addition, proponents of irradiated food cite studies showing that irradiated foods do not differ substantially in nutritional value from non-irradiated food. Levels of the vitamin thiamine are slightly reduced, but not enough to result in vitamin deficiency.
Irradiation proponents emphasize that it is not a substitute for good sanitation. For irradiation to be effective, the food that is to be irradiated already needs to be clean. The more initial contamination there is, the higher dose of irradiation it would take to eliminate possible pathogens, and the greater the change in the taste and quality of the food. So, irradiating poor-quality or spoiled food will result in a product that will be of poorer quality after irradiation, making it impossible to sell. It is in the best interest of industry to irradiate clean, good-quality food. Irradiation adds an extra measure of protection to food, and is only one tool in the arsenal to fight foodborne pathogens.
Medical sterilization facilities have been operating in this country for more than 30 years, without a fatal accident. More than 100 such facilities are currently licensed, along with at least that many medical radiation treatment centers and bone marrow transplant centers.Noevents have been documented in this country that led to exposure of the population at large to radioactivity.
Most irradiation facilities use cobalt 60, which decays by 50 percent in five years. The cobalt is a solid metal that is stored in long cobalt “pencils,” which are shipped back to a nuclear reactor to be recharged. Proponents are convinced that the American public would accept irradiation if they understood it better. They have done surveys demonstrating that if people are educated about the process first, they will be in favor of it.
Food is placed into a shielded chamber, an energy source is provided, the food absorbs the amount of energy necessary to accomplish the desired effect, the food is removed from the chamber, and is immediately ready to be further processed or consumed. (Derr 1998)
While the above description sounds like it could be describing high-tech food irradiation, it could also describe conventional cooking in an oven. The “chamber” would be a typical kitchen oven and the “energy source” gas or electric heat. It only appears to be a “high-technology” process because of the description given.
