Vegetarian Times: Is zapping food the answer?

Food irradiation--zapping food with gamma rays from radioactive material in the name of food safety--has been around for decades, but it's had only limited use. However, with several outbreaks of deadly food poisonings occurring around the country in the last few years, irradiation advocates are touting this technology as the magic bullet that will clean up our food supply.

Irradiation does have some benefits: It retards spoilage, so potatoes don't sprout tubers, and lettuce can last for weeks in the fridge; it also kills bacteria and parasites, including salmonella, trichinella spiralis and E. coli, all of which have caused dozens of deaths.

But what about possible negative effects of the technology? "To date, we haven't found any," claims George Pauli, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) division of product policy in the office of premarket approval, which manages the safety and regulatory review of food additives.

Not so fast say opponents who are concerned about potential hazards: the long-term harm caused by tampering with foods and the danger of radioactive leaks. "Food irradiation is playing Russian roulette with the food supply," charges Michael Colby, director of Food & Water, a national food safety and environmental organization based in Walden, Vt.

Pointing to statistics reported in Food Chemical News, Elsevier Biomedical Press, and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Colby says, "While proponents of irradiation try to spin it as a solution to dirty meat, the technology doesn't solve anything." In fact, according to Colby, irradiation only compounds the very problem it is meant to solve. "When you expose food to radiation [that is] the equivalent of 10 to 30 million chest x-rays, you are zapping essential nutrients, creating carcinogens in the food and giving rise to a host of environmental and worker safety problems," says Colby.

Pauli downplays such concerns, "Cooking also reduces nutrients, but that doesn't make it unsafe," he says. "We're just looking at it from the standpoint of safety only."

But safety in the largest sense is precisely what the Washington, D.C.-based Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), a nuclear watchdog group, is questioning. They warn that zapping food with the same radioactive materials used at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island is inviting disaster--particularly because these substances are being used in industrial buildings that do not use the same precautions that nuclear reactors do. "The opportunity for unplanned exposure [to radiation] of workers and nearby businesses or residences is quite real," NIRS executive director Michael Mariotte says.

Despite its rather limited use historically, irradiation is more of a player in food production than most Americans realize. Wheat flour and white potatoes were approved for irradiation in 1960 by the FDA. In the 1980s, spices, pork and fresh fruits were among the items added. And irradiated poultry was sanctioned in 1992, though its primary use has been in hospitals and nursing homes. Moreover, irradiation is already used in 37 countries, and independent research in Denmark, Sweden, Great Britain and Canada reaffirms the safety of irradiation.

Here in the United States, the push for irradiation is surging. At press time, legislation was pending in Congress that would mandate the irradiation of red meat. And part of the FDA reform bill under review also would allow the irradiation logo to be reduced in size and moved from the front of packaging to the rear--a move that underscores food producers' skittishness regarding the consumer appeal of nuked food.

Earlier this year, despite overwhelming opposition by private citizens, the Big Island County Council in Hawaii voted 7 to 2 to appropriate $2 million to finance an irradiation plant that would sanitize Hawaiian fruit. The move sparked heated debate. "The opposition so far is small compared to what is going to happen in the future," predicts local Greenpeace activist Michael Bailey. Food & Water has already run a 60-second television spot in Hawaii warning that "radioactive waste and the fruits of Hawaii" will become linked in consumers' minds.

Whether it be in Hawaii or on the mainland, one thing we can expect from irradiation is an unfolding war of words as the two factions mount their public relations campaigns to woo consumers, legislators and the food industry.

Opponents like Colby will continue to argue that the To Zap or Not To Zap debate deftly sidesteps the larger issues of food industry quality control and consumer safety. "How do E. coli contaminated hamburgers get into the market in the first place?" Colby demands. "How does fecal matter get on consumable meat? How come we have cut 14,000 meat inspectors in the last 15 years? This is what is causing the problems in the food supply, and this is what we have to begin to change."