Editorial on Food Irradiation

[Mike Grissom <mikeg@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

Radsafers,

The following editorial appeared in the San Francisco
Chronicle on December 5, 1997.  Should you like to make
a response, the contact information is:

	Fax for Letters to the Editor or
	Open Forum articles 415-543-7708
	mailto:chronletters@sfgate.com

You will note that the chief concern expressed is not with
the radiation, per se, but rather using it as a crutch to
avoid improvements in sanitary conditions!

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		  Gamma Rays and Pot Roast

  "Scientists say it's safe to eat meat that has been
                 zapped with gamma rays"

The Food and Drug Administration gave consumers a choice they
deserve to have:  whether or not to buy red meat that has been
irradiated to kill bacteria.

Scientific studies strongly support the FDA's contention that
eating meat that has been zapped with gamma rays is safe.

Foods are bombarded with energy from radioactive material,
killing bacteria and insects.  Irradiation does not make the
food radioactive, although it can slightly alter the taste of
meat.

Irradiation has been approved for use on food in at least 35
countries, and it already is allowed in the United States for
wheat, flour, potatoes, herbs, pork, fruit, vegetables and
poultry.

But if history is any indication, consumers will be in no hurry
to toss into their shopping carts packages with the bold "TREATED
BY IRRADIATION" sticker, and that is as it should be.

Before irradiated beef does become commonplace, shoppers should
have confidence that producers are not skimping in the cleaning
process elsewhere.

Most important is how beef is raised, inspected, slaughtered and
processed.  Consumer caution on irradiation will maintain pressure
on producers and others to be scrupulous in bringing the meat to
market as sterile as possible and not to use irradiation as a way
to avoid sanitary procedures.

But irradiation gives both grocery shoppers and wholesale buyers,
such as the fast-food franchises, an important tool in eliminating
deadly E. coli bacteria.

A positive experience with beef irradiation may convince people to
try irradiated poultry.  Sixty percent of the poultry sold in the
United States carries salmonella, experts say, and results in
9,000 deaths a year.

Consumers should be given whatever information is available in
order to make informed decisions about whether they want to try
irradiated foods, and the FDA should be vigilant in enforcing
the requirement that irradiated foods are so designated with
highly visible stickers.

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