Irradiated food?

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Did irradiated food ever make it to market? It was supposed to have a very long shelf life but their was controversy about it's safety.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 15, 1999

Answers

Lars..

Irradiated food is safe; it contains no radiation, but people are wary of anything that has been exposed to radiation, and therefore it has not met with much success in being marketed in the US. I understand that in some European countries, it is being successfully marketed.

If those who are/were interested in marketing irradiated foods in the US would use some other terminology than "radiated", not so much sales resistance would be met.

Gerald

-- Gerald R. Cox (grcox@internetwork.net), October 15, 1999.


I believe that spices are presently gamma- irradiated to prevent spoilage. There was a company in Florida that was going to do strawberries, but I don't think it has been approved yet. I think it's a great idea, and would solve a lot of problems.

Bob, Ph.D. Nuclear Engineering

-- bob watson (janebob99@aol.com), October 15, 1999.


My understanding is that the original irradiation dosage gave the food an indeffinate shelf life as long as it stayed sealed. Unfortunately they found that enough irradiation to kill EVERYTHING so that it will keep also has the side affect of changing the chemical structure of the food so that it is no longer safe and nutritious to eat. Since then they have downed the dosage so that the food is still edible, but it is no longer enough to eliminate all life forms. There are those that say that the whole irradiation program was just to get people used to the idea of eating things that had been irradiated, to help the nuclear program.

-- tree (thetrees@bigfoot.com), October 15, 1999.

The problem with discussing irradiation is that there are many different forms of it.

Some methods of irradiation use radioactive substances to produce various 'waves' or particles to kill pathogens.

But most methods use radio waves, just as a microwave oven does.

The only difference between the microwave oven and irradiation is in what is being cooked.

-- Dean -- from (almost) Duh Moines (dtmiller@midiowa.net), October 15, 1999.


Oh, BTW.

Cooking food also changes the chemical structure of the food.

-- Dean -- from (almost) Duh Moines (dtmiller@midiowa.net), October 15, 1999.



Eating food changes the structure of food too.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), October 15, 1999.

LOL Rob... You are correct!

-- (cannot-say@this.time), October 15, 1999.

You are confusing chemical change with a change
with the atomic structure. Passing food under
radioactive cesium changes its atomic structure
and creates radiolytic compounds. These foods
have a lower quality in taste and nutrition. An
Indian study showed negative health effects also.

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), October 15, 1999.

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