Food Irradiation

We had a debate in class this month about food irradiation. Neither side really won, but we came up with a good proposal to the FDA:

Dear FDA,

The students of ISB’s proposal to you is that irradiation must be proven to be healthier, without hazard and, in the long run, better for our economy before irradiated food is allowed to be produced and put into stores all around the world. It must also be clear that the food the customers are buying irradiated food.

These were some of the pros and cons:

Cons:

environmental destruction

costs a lot!

problems have been discovered in animals that ate irradiated food (premature death, rare form of cancer, liver damage, vitamin deficiencies)

masks and encourages filthy conditions in slaughterhouses (kills bacteria but does nothing for feces, urine, pus, and vomit)

doesnt kill the pathogen that causes mad cow disease, either

destroys vitamins (80 % vitamin a in eggs, etc.)

can change the flavor, odor and texture of food (pork turns red, beef smells like wet dog, fruits and veggies become mushy, eggs can lose their color and become runny

disrupts the chemical composition of everything in its path

forces farmers and ranchers out of business, even WORSE for our economy

high energy gamma rays create free radicals in the cells they penetrate which is implicated in heart disease

new compounds are formed radiolytic products not sure whether they are toxic or not

food poisoning bacteria could become resistant to irradiation over time just like with antibiotics

kills good bacteria

limited amount of food they can irradiate

doesnt work on seafood

PROS

Millions of americans get sick yearly from spoiled food

Destroy's bacteria and echanes shelf life

does not change the content of foood

NO harmful substances are created in the food

destroys other harmful substances in the food

Little or no heating frozen foods

can treat pakaged or frozen foods

no chemicals used for preservation of fresh foods

low energy requirements

comprable change in nutrional value

Eating irradated food DOES NOT present long term health risks

Irrdiation DOES not make food radioactive

Can eliminate food germs

irradiation can kill substaantially reduce the number of potentially dangerous organisms

in foods. estimate range from 90 to 99.9 precent

Irradition can kill insects and pests infesting foods such as grains and flours without leaving

chemical residues

Irradiation can be used to sterlize food immune-compromised individuals such as Aids patients

Irradiation has been deemeds safe by various govermental agenicies

Proponets of irradiation compare the changes in food caused by iiradion to

products created by other processes such as cooking ar freeze-drying

Irradation delay's ripening and sprouting so food can be stored longer

There is no potential for enviromental impact because the radioactive materials are fully enclosed

and are returned to the manfacter for recycling or diposal

Good safety and record for existing irradition facilities

without irrated food 76 million would be sick from food sickness

between 5 and 7 billion dollars are wasted on spoiled food

In this case, I don't think science was such a good invention. Food irradiation was invented with a good purpose in mind - to address a global food problem. However, in my opinion, there are simply too many things that could go wrong. I think that before food irradiation is thought of as the solution to all of our world's food problems, it needs to be completely foolproof. Nothing can go wrong, because this is food we're talking about. Food is something that every single human being needs to survive, and if the food is contaminated, then our whole world could potentially collapse. If there are two containers of food at the supermarket, one irradiated and one not, I would definitely pick the one that isn't. It's a type that I can trust and has essentially been proven safe. Irradiation hasn't been proven safe, so I wouldn't want to buy it until it is 100% safe.

My thinking didn't really change throughout the debate, because I was assigned to talk about the cons of irradiation and I really think that irradiation isn't a good idea at the moment. Before we did this activity, I actually knew nothing about food irradiation before we did this activity, so it really opened my eyes up to something that's going on in the world that I wouldn't have known about otherwise. I did like the activity, it was fun to argue for my side of the debate and it ended up being really informative.