Food Irradiation

Food Irradiation


Most people naturally understand that food and radiation should never meet. But irradiated food is already on our supermarket shelves and may even be in your refrigerator. Most consumers are probably unaware that a growing portion of their food supply is at risk of exposure to potentially harmful sources of radiation, or that irradiated meat has been approved for the National School Lunch Program.

Food irradiation uses high-energy gamma rays, electron beams, or X-rays to break apart bacteria and insects that can hide in meat, grains, and other foods. Instead of addressing the unsanitary conditions of factory farms that cause many food-borne illnesses, the food industry sees this technology as a quick fix for the negative consequences of industrial livestock production. Moreover, the influence of the food industry on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has led to the legalization of several irradiated food items, including spices, produce, and meats.

Corporate food processors are eager to expand the use of food irradiation on a wide variety of ready-to-eat foods such as deli meats, hot dogs, snacks, packaged salads and baby food, claiming that the process kills organisms that cause spoilage and human disease. In fact, corporations see the use of irradiation as a means to increase their market shares in the international import and export trade and ultimately boost their profits. Despite the findings of well-respected international scientists that show irradiated foods may cause health impacts in people who eat them, key regulatory agencies and some members of Congress support the widespread use of irradiation.

New scientific evidence of the potentially harmful human health impacts of food irradiation has begun to emerge just as the food industry is pressing the government to expand its use. Internationally recognized scientists have presented a growing body of evidence indicating that foods created using this technology may not be safe to eat. Irradiating some types of foods, including ground beef products, can create potentially dangerous chemical byproducts and reduce the foods' nutritional value.

A thorough, independent scientific test commissioned by CFS revealed the presence of the chemicals known as 2-alkylcyclobutanones (2-ACBs) in three types of irradiated ground beef. Earlier research had discovered the cancer-promoting characteristic of 2-ACBs in the colons of rats. The ground beef testing was the first to demonstrate the presence of these risky chemicals in U.S. consumer products. Furthermore, one-third of earlier published studies that examined mutagenicity link the byproducts of irradiation to DNA damage.

Despite these troubling findings, Congress and the USDA are allowing school systems under the National School Lunch Program to serve irradiated food to a potential population of 27 million kids. This effectively makes school children human guinea pigs in the next round of food irradiation tests.

CFS seeks to force government agencies to take a precautionary approach to the untested process of irradiating the nation's food supply. CFS urges FDA to deny the industry's request to irradiate ready-to-eat foods (like packaged lunch meat, hotdogs and TV dinners) and to revoke its earlier approval of irradiated meat and other products. CFS is also working to reverse the government's decision to feed irradiated foods to schoolchildren through the National School Lunch Program.