How do you feel about food irradiation?

[Dora M]

Food irradiation is a form of food processing that extends shelf life and reduces spoilage of food. Foods such as fruits, vegetables, spices and meats can be exposed to radiation to kill insects, moulds and micro-organisms. There are no detectable levels of radiation left behind in the products. Some foods, such as dairy foods and eggs, can't be irradiated because it causes changes in flavour or texture.
How do you feel about your food being treated with gamma rays and x-rays?
If you have time, please read this link:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Irrad/irradfact.cfm

 

[Trellum]

This is the first time I ever hear about this to be honest, I didn't know they did this to our fruits and vegetables. I might be very wrong (please correct me if I am), but irradiation sounds way safer than the pesticides they add to all our produce. It sounds like that, at least. I'd not say I'd feel 100% comfortable giving that to my niece, but this might be safer that pesticides.

 

[khillis]

I am not a fan of my food being processed, which is why it's ideal to grow your own produce if you can. There is no need for our food supply to be exposed to all these chemicals and processing steps. If you grow a lot of your own food you know the beauty of picking a tomato straight from a plant you grew, and using it in your dinner that evening. That is why I find it so crucial to have a garden; I know exactly how my food has been cared for.

 

[Dora M]

I actually did an experiment out of curiosity to see how long fruit and vegetables bought in the supermarket would keep in comparison to organic produce. I placed a few apples, pears, tomatoes and sweet potatoes on a shelf in my kitchen next to their organic equivalents. The naturally grown food started to show brown spots and signs of deterioration after a few days, except for the sweet potatoes that usually keep for weeks if stored properly. The glossy waxed stuff from the supermarket didn't show any changes at all. They looked exactly the way they did on the day when I bought them. The tomatoes still appeared red and glossy three weeks later, then they started shrinking and developing strange black spots while their skin got paper thin. When I cut them apart they appeared to have oxidised inside. And in some the seeds had sprouted. Have you ever come across tomatoes that sprouted inside the fruit?
The apples and pears sat there for nearly three months before they began to shrink as well. Their skin remained intact, but when I cut them open with a knife, their flesh was brown and pulpy. As for the sweet potatoes, they had developed soft patches, their tips were rotting and displaying odd colours inside.
Now, has that alleged foodstuff from Woolworth, Coles and all the other corporations been grown with GMO seeds in chemical soils and then further treated with radioactive rays, or am I just imagining this? So much for the "Fresh food people".

 

[Dora M]

This is the first time I ever hear about this to be honest, I didn't know they did this to our fruits and vegetables. I might be very wrong (please correct me if I am), but irradiation sounds way safer than the pesticides they add to all our produce. It sounds like that, at least. I'd not say I'd feel 100% comfortable giving that to my niece, but this might be safer that pesticides.

Hi Trellum, neither is safe. The best way for you and your family is to try and grow your own natural produce. If you don't have the time or space, try and go to a famer's market. They are everywhere now. And start chatting with the farmers about their growing methods and how they treat their soils. I think you will walk away feeling really good to know that your veggies have been grown from saved seeds in nice old cow poo.

 

[ACSAPA]

I don't know how I feel about it. Maybe making the food spoil more slowly reduces waste, since some people throw produce away at the first sign of a black spot.

If people were to start buying organic produce or growing it at home, someone would have to educate them on how to use produce that's getting old.
You can still cook with vegetables and fruits that are starting to look spotty, but a lot of people won't bother and just throw that stuff out.

 

[Pat]

I think one of the reasons food is treated with chemicals is because of the distance it is shipped. The farmer is no longer in the backyard or around the corner. Some of the food we eat is shipped hundreds of miles to get to us and would spoil on the way.

I like the idea of growing my own food and having the confidence of knowing it has not been treated with chemicals or pesticides, but to be real, I don't have the time. I have stopped eating food I think has been treated, it is easier to do without, visit the farmers market when they are open in my area and grow a little of my own.

Our world is moving very quickly to chemical based food, soon there will not be fresh food as we know it or as our parents knew it. Sad but look at what this hard winter has done to the crops, the draught area went to a flood area over night, crops have been destroyed, food will be made in the factory to make up for all the food destroyed due to uncontrollable conditions.

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

I am OK with this process. It had been around (at least in Canada) for quite a long time. Unlike GMOs or chemically treated foods, nothing sinister is being done to the actual fruit or vegetable.

The process is similar to throwing food in the microwave. Most people don't worry about too much about eating microwaves after heating their lunch. Living, specifically dividing, cells are susceptible to this kind of treatment. This means that the majority of cellular damage is done to the dividing bacteria and yeasts rather than the non-dividing plant cells. As bacteria divide rapidly, a couple of blasts will seriously reduce the population. Bacteria and yeasts are part of the natural process of decay so reducing the numbers slows the process. Even if a plant cell is killed by this process, it is just a dead cell (effectively the same as cooked) - it can not divide and form a frankenfood.

I prefer this to chemical treatments as there will always be some chemical residue left - even if it is very safe.

 

[zigs]

If I can't have fresh then at least irradiated food will keep a bit longer. Although i'd prefer frozen given the choice.

 

[Trellum]

Hi Trellum, neither is safe. The best way for you and your family is to try and grow your own natural produce. If you don't have the time or space, try and go to a famer's market. They are everywhere now. And start chatting with the farmers about their growing methods and how they treat their soils. I think you will walk away feeling really good to know that your veggies have been grown from saved seeds in nice old cow poo.

Hi Dora, I thought so, fortunately irradiation isn't a really popular method to treat our produce over here. But I'm still very worried about pesticides, I never feel safe when eating fruits like papaya, because when I buy that at the market I swear I can smell the pesticide they used and is gross! I will try to grow my own produce in the future, thanks for the advice, Dora

 

[Dora M]

I am OK with this process. It had been around (at least in Canada) for quite a long time. Unlike GMOs or chemically treated foods, nothing sinister is being done to the actual fruit or vegetable.

The process is similar to throwing food in the microwave. Most people don't worry about too much about eating microwaves after heating their lunch. Living, specifically dividing, cells are susceptible to this kind of treatment. This means that the majority of cellular damage is done to the dividing bacteria and yeasts rather than the non-dividing plant cells. As bacteria divide rapidly, a couple of blasts will seriously reduce the population. Bacteria and yeasts are part of the natural process of decay so reducing the numbers slows the process. Even if a plant cell is killed by this process, it is just a dead cell (effectively the same as cooked) - it can not divide and form a frankenfood.

I prefer this to chemical treatments as there will always be some chemical residue left - even if it is very safe.

Hi Lostvalleyguy, thanks for your post. I don't mean to offend, but I don't really believe a single word of all this pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo. I don't mean your words here, but what is written everywhere to misinform and brainwash people just so that they keep on consuming. Food treated in the microwave is dead food. Food treated with any kind of radiation causes changes in the food product and in your body. These changes might not be noticeable for a long time, but eventually they catch up with you. I know this from first hand experience, having worked in a natural health clinic. In nearly all cases, people who came with a large variety of strange and sudden illnesses, had been eating conventional food. When they started changing their diet and focused on naturally grown vegetables and fruit, they improved within months. But that is just my very own experience. I feel very strongly about this subject, as I have seen too many people suffer from misinformation.

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

Hi Dora, fear not, I am not offended. Can you link to the misinformation you are referring to? In terms of food in the microwave - I was not suggesting it was a good thing, but rather something people don't generally fret about. For the purposes of irradiation, fruits and vegetables are already dead as their cells have stopped dividing just like the food we put in a microwave. Radiation has a much greater effect on dividing cells than it does when they are not dividing. The concept is that because only the bacteria and yeasts are "alive", they will most greatly be affected by irradiation. This is why we don't X-ray a fetus but we use radiation therapy on tumors.

 

[Dora M]

Hi Dora, fear not, I am not offended. Can you link to the misinformation you are referring to? In terms of food in the microwave - I was not suggesting it was a good thing, but rather something people don't generally fret about. For the purposes of irradiation, fruits and vegetables are already dead as their cells have stopped dividing just like the food we put in a microwave. Radiation has a much greater effect on dividing cells than it does when they are not dividing. The concept is that because only the bacteria and yeasts are "alive", they will most greatly be affected by irradiation. This is why we don't X-ray a fetus but we use radiation therapy on tumors.

Lostvalleyguy, excuse me if I sound like one of these people who just bang on about a certain subject as if everyone else is the enemy and only I, and my absolute conviction, am right. I read carefully what you wrote, and yes, it is as it is. When I mentioned misinformation, I meant the overall way that governments and corporations cleverly make potentially life threatening processes sound harmless. Yes, I know, one could argue that everything can be potentially life threatening, but I think it is obvious what I mean.