No Nuked Food

Removing irradiation label puts consumers at risk

by ALICIA PRIEST

Recently, a distasteful development in the U.S. signalled that agribusiness and its governmental cohorts are set to launch yet another assault in their non-stop battle for consumers’ minds, stomachs, and pocketbooks. Public food fights are nothing new. But as people become increasingly aware of the health and environmental consequences of what American food writer Michael Pollan calls “the industrial food chain,” these attempts will happen more often and will become far more serious.

This latest battle is a backhanded attempt by industry to expand the little-used practice of food irradiation. In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed weakening its rule on the labelling of irradiated food so that products could carry alternative labels such as “pasteurized,” despite the FDA’s own survey that found consumers want straightforward labelling.

Pasteurization (the heating of foods to a high temperature and then rapidly cooling them) is a different process altogether. Right now, all food sold in the U.S. or Canada that is exposed to x-rays, electron beams, or gamma rays must be labelled as irradiated. It must also bear a deceptively innocent logo called the “radura”—a broken green circle with a two-leaved plant in the middle. If that description doesn’t ring a bell, it’s probably because you’ve never seen it. While some foods in Canada are allowed to be radiated—potatoes, onions, wheat, flour, whole-wheat flour, whole and ground spices, and dehydrated seasoning preparations—the technology is not widely used here. Irradiated food is a hard sell.

The U.S. allows far more foods to be zapped: all fresh fruits and vegetables, red meats, chicken, dry-enzyme preparations, dry spices and seasonings, frozen meats, eggs, and seeds for sprouting. But sales of irradiated food have been disappointing there, too. In fact, nuked food is not widely accepted by consumers anywhere, despite government and mainstream science support for the process. The Health Canada website, for example, states that “irradiated food remains nutritious and safe for consumption.” Big public health bodies such as the World Health Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agree. Does that mean consumers simply need to be “educated about what irradiation is and why it is done” in order to accept it, as Health Canada suggests?

Not according to groups such as the Cancer Prevention Coalition and Public Citizen, a U.S. public-interest group founded more than 25 years ago by Ralph Nader. Public Citizen does not accept funds from corporations, professional associations, or government agencies. The group points to extensive scientific research showing that irradiation produces several worrying health effects. First, it destroys essential vitamins and nutrients; for example, about a third of the vitamin C in potatoes is vaporized after irradiation. Also, irradiation produces known toxins such as benzene and toluene, and a whole new class of chemicals called cyclobutanones that have been shown to cause genetic and cellular damage in rats as well as people. What’s more, Public Citizen says, no one knows about the health effects of consuming irradiated foods over a long period of time, and no population has ever included irradiated foods as a significant part of their diet.

But the strongest argument against irradiation comes from examining why it needs to be done.

Irradiation is designed to kill microbes such as salmonella, E. coli, and campylobacter, the legacy of a filthy, unsafe, and artificially cheapened food production system where animals on factory farms are grossly overcrowded, cows in feedlots stand deep in their own feces, and where, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, workers kill up to 300 animals per hour. Vegetarians aren’t immune to the effects of such widespread madness, either. Last fall’s outbreak of E. coli-infused California spinach was linked to sewage runoff from nearby cattle feedlots.

Human and animal health is inextricably intertwined, and due primarily to inhumane and unsanitary farming practices, animals have become a primary source of diseases. A new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals a 50 per cent increase in E. coli infections since 2004. The Centers estimate that 76 million Americans get sick and 5,000 die from food-borne illnesses each year. The situation in Canada is not much better. While food-borne illnesses are under reported, Health Canada estimates that, every year, 11 to 13 million Canadians
suffer from illnesses caused by food-borne bacteria. That’s 35,000 cases of food poisoning every day.

Confidence in the safety of the food supply is becoming increasingly shaky. But for the sake of our health, let’s hope industry and government’s latest effort to soft-sell irradiated food is as successful as their earlier attempts. Sanitation, not irradiation, is what makes food safe.

Alicia Priest is a Victoria freelance writer on the lookout for a “radura” near her.