Re: food irradiation

[Dick King <king@reasoning.com>]

> 
> Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 00:02:06 +0100 (MET)
> From: Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>
> Subject: Re: food irradiation
> 
> 
> The question, which in my opinion is the most crucial in our Western world,
> is simply: Do we  n e e d   irradiated food? Is it necessary to extend shelf
> life? We have so excellent distribution chains, where food is always kept at
> low temperature, we have excellent logistics. I do not believe that
> extension of shelf life is an argument which could be used in the Western
> world - it might be a striking one in developing countries. Is it advisable
> to decontaminate spices from salmonella and similar contamination? Yes it is
> - for instance the Finnish government has explicitely allowed application of
> food irradiation with regard to spices. Is it advisable to treat poultry
> with radiation to kill salmonella? It might be in cases with heavy
> infestion, but even in this case it would be advisable to strenghthen
> hygiene instead of irradiating.

I'll bet radiation would affect the flavor of freshly squeezed fruit juices
less than Pasteurization.  Yet i bet Odwalla won't do it.

-dk