Hulk want food!
Jun. 29th, 2007 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
semiotic_pirateSeveral years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
approved a process called irradiation [http://tinyurl.com/yt7fbb] for
protecting meats, fruits, vegetables and spices from disease-causing
bacteria. Irradiation uses gamma rays, electron beams or X-rays to
break up bacteria lurking in mass-produced food.
While consumers expressed little interest in purchasing irradiated
foods, which must be labeled as such, the FDA recently proposed
changing the rules governing how irradiated food is labeled.
Currently, it must be labeled as "Treated by/with irradiation" and
with a radura symbol. Under the proposed rule, manufactures would be
allowed to replace the word "irradiation" with "pasteurized."
A public comment period on the changes is open until July 3, 2007.
You can write the FDA [http://tinyurl.com/2hmy5r] about irradiated
foods, or use the Organic Consumers Association's online form
[http://tinyurl.com/yuauv4].
Here are answers to commonly asked questions about irradiation:
Does irradiating food make it radioactive?
No. There are three different methods used to irradiate foods, and
while one of them does involve the use of nuclear radiation, none of
them render the food itself radioactive. Each method uses an energy
source, either gamma rays, x-rays or electron beams, to produce high
frequency energy that breaks the chemical bonds in cells that are
essential for cell growth and reproduction.
Gamma rays, made with radioactive cobalt or cesium, are used more
often than the other methods; however, the food never comes in contact
with the material, so it can't become contaminated in that way.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
[http://tinyurl.com/yvedhu] , too much of this radiation can make
some of the atoms in the food unstable, (aka radioactive), but the FDA
limits the amount of energy that can be used to prevent this from
happening. Currently, the process has been approved for meat and
poultry, spices, as well as certain fruits and vegetables.
Will eating these foods harm my health?
No one really knows for sure, because there haven't been any studies
conducted on people who have eaten irradiated foods over a long period
of time. At the very least, irradiated foods are slightly less
nutritious, since the process destroys nutrients such as thiamine (an
essential B vitamin) and also vitamin C. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture [http://www.usda.gov/] claims that this loss is
insignificant, which isn't surprising since it's the same position
they've taken regarding the nutritional decline of our food supply
overall.
Among the concerns voiced by George Tritsch, research professor
emeritus at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., and
others is that bombarding foods with gamma rays creates free radicals,
the unstable molecular fragments that go about our bodies crashing
into cells as they search for an unimpaired molecule to render them
stable again. In addition, certain fats subjected to irradiation
produce potentially carcinogenic byproducts, such as formaldehyde and
benzene, although many scientists dismiss this concern because
similar compounds are created during ordinary cooking processes.
approved a process called irradiation [http://tinyurl.com/yt7fbb] for
protecting meats, fruits, vegetables and spices from disease-causing
bacteria. Irradiation uses gamma rays, electron beams or X-rays to
break up bacteria lurking in mass-produced food.
While consumers expressed little interest in purchasing irradiated
foods, which must be labeled as such, the FDA recently proposed
changing the rules governing how irradiated food is labeled.
Currently, it must be labeled as "Treated by/with irradiation" and
with a radura symbol. Under the proposed rule, manufactures would be
allowed to replace the word "irradiation" with "pasteurized."
A public comment period on the changes is open until July 3, 2007.
You can write the FDA [http://tinyurl.com/2hmy5r] about irradiated
foods, or use the Organic Consumers Association's online form
[http://tinyurl.com/yuauv4].
Here are answers to commonly asked questions about irradiation:
Does irradiating food make it radioactive?
No. There are three different methods used to irradiate foods, and
while one of them does involve the use of nuclear radiation, none of
them render the food itself radioactive. Each method uses an energy
source, either gamma rays, x-rays or electron beams, to produce high
frequency energy that breaks the chemical bonds in cells that are
essential for cell growth and reproduction.
Gamma rays, made with radioactive cobalt or cesium, are used more
often than the other methods; however, the food never comes in contact
with the material, so it can't become contaminated in that way.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
[http://tinyurl.com/yvedhu] , too much of this radiation can make
some of the atoms in the food unstable, (aka radioactive), but the FDA
limits the amount of energy that can be used to prevent this from
happening. Currently, the process has been approved for meat and
poultry, spices, as well as certain fruits and vegetables.
Will eating these foods harm my health?
No one really knows for sure, because there haven't been any studies
conducted on people who have eaten irradiated foods over a long period
of time. At the very least, irradiated foods are slightly less
nutritious, since the process destroys nutrients such as thiamine (an
essential B vitamin) and also vitamin C. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture [http://www.usda.gov/] claims that this loss is
insignificant, which isn't surprising since it's the same position
they've taken regarding the nutritional decline of our food supply
overall.
Among the concerns voiced by George Tritsch, research professor
emeritus at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., and
others is that bombarding foods with gamma rays creates free radicals,
the unstable molecular fragments that go about our bodies crashing
into cells as they search for an unimpaired molecule to render them
stable again. In addition, certain fats subjected to irradiation
produce potentially carcinogenic byproducts, such as formaldehyde and
benzene, although many scientists dismiss this concern because
similar compounds are created during ordinary cooking processes.
