Misleading FDA Pamphlet on Irradiated Foods

[Guest guest]

FYI everyone

 

 

A rebuttal of the FDA-sponsored pamphlet " Questions & Answers about Food

 

Irradiation "

 

 

TEXT OF THE PAMPHLET

 

 

What is food irradiation?

 

 

Food irradiation is a process in which food products are exposed to a

 

controlled amount of radiant energy to kill harmful bacteria such as E. coli

 

and Salmonella. The process also controls insects and parasites, reduces

 

spoilage, and inhibits ripening and sprouting.

 

 

OCA COMMENT: This statement is crafted to mislead the public. " Radiant

 

energy " sounds like sunlight. In fact, IRRADIATED FOOD IS TREATED WITH

 

HIGH-SPEED ENERGY BEAMS THAT, UNLIKE SUNLIGHT, IONIZE MOLECULES. The free

 

radicals caused by this " ionizing radiation " ricochet through the food and

 

damage the DNA in bacteria, insects and the food itself. FREE RADICALS ARE

 

BELIEVED TO BE COMMON CANCER " PROMOTERS. " That is, they promote the

 

second-stage developments that turn the initially damaged cells into

 

malignant (i.e., cancerous) ones. Microwaves do not harm the food in the

 

same way as irradiation. In microwaving, food is cooked by heating the water

 

in the molecules; the DNA in the food is not broken. Ionizing radiation

 

includes gamma rays from nuclear materials, electrons from electron guns,

 

and x-rays.

 

 

Is irradiated food safe?

 

 

The Food and Drug Administration has evaluated the safety of this technology

 

over the last 40 years and has found irradiation to be safe and has approved

 

its use for many foods. Scientific studies have shown that irradiation does

 

not significantly reduce nutritional quality or change food taste, texture

 

or appearance. Irradiated foods do not become radioactive. American

 

astronauts have eaten irradiated food since the 1970s and patients with weak

 

immune systems are sometimes fed irradiated foods to reduce the chance of

 

infection.

 

 

OCA COMMENT: There are many errors and omissions here.

 

 

.. First, the pamphlet implies erroneously that the FDA has both continuously

 

evaluated scientific studies over the last 40 years, and and found a uniform

 

record of safety. See our section on Food Irradiation Resources for the

 

numerous problems and deficiencies in the FDA's review of the science.

 

 

.. Second, the statement implies that FDA has found irradiation to be safe

 

for ALL foods. In fact, in 1968 the FDA retracted its 1963 approval of

 

bacon, because animals fed irradiated bacon showed health effects.

 

 

.. Third, IRRADIATION DOES REDUCE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY. Even people who

 

support irradiation agree that vitamins are lost, particularly the

 

antioxidant vitamins A, E, C, and K, which are necessary to counteract free

 

radicals. The amount of vitamin loss varies with the food and the length of

 

storage, so whether this is " significant " or not depends on the food, its

 

importance in a person's diet, and whether people get the vitamin from other

 

foods. The FDA has not stated what its " baseline " diet consists of. Children

 

in particular may eat large quantities of the same food, and vitamin loss in

 

this food could be " significant " . In poor countries where staple crops like

 

wheat or potatoes could be irradiated, the problem of vitamin loss would be

 

very significant.

 

 

.. Fourth, it is likely that the natural digestive enzymes in food are

 

significantly damaged. Enzymes are long proteins, and are affected by the

 

free radical 'fragmentation bombs' created by irradiation. The presence of

 

enzymes is the most critical nutritional difference between raw food and

 

cooked food. Irradiated food that is meant to be eaten raw is a danger to

 

public health, and, when unlabeled, a deliberate fraud to the consumer.

 

 

.. Fifth, THE FDA IS SIMPLY LYING WHEN IT SAYS IRRADIATION " DOES NOT CHANGE

 

FOOD TASTE, TEXTURE OR APPEARANCE. " Many studies have shown that irradiation

 

can produce such changes. For example, irradiated ground beef can have the

 

aroma of a wet dog, and irradiated melons can be mushy. To combat these

 

problems, food scientists manipulate the irradiation dose and other

 

variables, such as packaging, to produce an 'acceptable' food. Foods with a

 

" low tolerance " for irradiation are simply not irradiated. Irradiated fats

 

easily become rancid because the free radicals oxidize the fats. For this

 

reason, fatty foods are irradiated only if they are likely to be cooked, or

 

used within a short time.

 

 

.. Sixth, induced radioactivity IS possible at 10 Mev (the maximum permitted

 

dose for fruits and vegetables), but diminishes during storage.

 

 

.. Seventh, the statement about astronauts is irrelevant. They are military

 

people on a military mission who expect to be exposed to greater risks than

 

the civilian population, and their 'acceptance' of irradiated food should be

 

seen as part of their acceptance of that risk.

 

 

How does irradiation work?

 

 

Food is packed in containers and moved by conveyer belt into a shielded

 

room. There the food is exposed briefly to a radiant-energy source; the

 

amount of energy depends on the food. Energy waves passing through the food

 

break molecular bonds in the DNA of bacteria, pathogens and insects. The

 

food is left unchanged, but the number of harmful bacteria, parasites and

 

fungi is reduced. (The food irradiation symbol, the radura, is required by

 

the FDA on all irradiated food with the words " treated with radiation " or

 

" treated by irradiation " .)

 

 

OCA COMMENTS:

 

 

.. First, again, the FDA misleads the public by using the term

 

" radiant-energy source " instead of " ionizing-energy source " .

 

 

.. Second, the FDA does not mention that energy waves passing through the

 

food ALSO break molecular bonds in the food itself.

 

 

.. Third, an outright lie: the food is NOT " left unchanged. " IRRADIATION

 

CREATES FREE RADICALS, DAMAGED DNA, DAMAGED VITAMINS AND ENZYMES. IT IS

 

IMPOSSIBLE FOR ENERGY WAVES TO BREAK THE DNA OF BACTERIA AND INSECTS, AND

 

NOT BREAK THE DNA OF THE FOOD ITSELF!

 

 

.. Fourth, AN EXTREMELY MISLEADING STATEMENT THAT VERGES ON A LIE--THE

 

ASSERTION THAT ALL IRRADIATED FOOD IS LABELED. The consumer who reads this

 

thinks that they will always know if their food has been irradiated. Not

 

true! Yes, all irradiated food is labeled--but only to the first purchaser,

 

which can be a restaurant, school, hospital, airline or food processor. None

 

of these institutions or companies are required to label irradiated food to

 

the consumer. In addition, when consumer labels ARE required (e.g., on a bag

 

of potatoes), the required wording may be as small as the typeface on the

 

ingredient label, and can be on the back of the package. Produce sold by the

 

piece is supposed to be labeled on the display or on the fruit itself, but

 

there is no enforcement and no specific size for the display label.

 

Consumers are NOT adequately notified by existing labeling requirements. And

 

food industry groups have been pressuring Congress to require the FDA to

 

remove ALL labels.

 

 

Do irradiated foods cost more?

 

 

Irradiated products cost slightly more than their conventional counterparts.

 

Some industry experts estimate the cost at two to three cents higher per

 

pound for fruits and vegetables and three to five cents higher per pound for

 

meat and poultry products. These costs may be offset by advantages such as

 

keeping a product fresh longer and enhancing its safety, Food trade groups

 

say that as irradiation becomes more common, the cost is likely to drop.

 

 

OCA COMMENTS: Irradiated ground beef in Minnesota has recently sold for up

 

to $1.50/lb. more than nonirradiated beef. Nobody has a crystal ball, but we

 

can be sure that as long as irradiated food can be promoted as " better " than

 

nonirradiated food, the price will be as high as the traffic will bear.

 

 

Are food irradiation facilities safe?

 

 

Both the electron beam and gamma ray technologies used today are safe. The

 

electron beam facilities, like the one at Iowa State University, use an

 

electron generator to produce a stream of high-energy electrons to form the

 

electron beam. E-beam technology has been used for the last 15 years. The

 

technology to produce gamma rays used Cobalt 60 or Cesium 137. Both are

 

radioactive materials that do not give off neutrons, which means that this

 

material does not make anything around it radioactive. This technology has

 

been used routinely for more than 30 years to sterilize medical, dental and

 

household products.

 

 

OCA COMMENT: Gamma-ray facilities, which use nuclear materials, are

 

inherently unsafe. There have been numerous spills and leaks of radioactive

 

material and worker exposures from irradiation facilities worldwide. The

 

statement that this technology is used " routinely " is irrelevant.

 

 

Are irradiated foods available?

 

 

Irradiated food is becoming widely available. Some stores have sold

 

irradiated fruits and vegetables since the early 1990s. Irradiated meat is

 

available in some grocery stores and on menus in a few restaurants. Some

 

spices also are irradiated to control pests.

 

 

OCA COMMENT: Because irradiated food that is sold in restaurants is not

 

labeled to the consumer, no one except the packer knows how much irradiated

 

meat/poultry is being sold. Companies that produce over 75% of the U.S.'s 9

 

billion pounds/year of ground beef and approximately 50% of the nearly 35

 

billion pounds/year of poultry have already signed agreements to use

 

irradiation technology. Ground beef and chicken will be the most commonly

 

irradiated foods.

 

 

What kind of machine irradiates food?

 

 

In electron beam irradiation, food is irradiated by a machine called a

 

linear accelerator. A linear accelerator generates electrons, similar to a

 

television tube, that are accelerated, bent and scanned over the product. No

 

radioactive material is used. Iowa State University houses a

 

commercial-sized electronic beam irradiator in the Linear Accelerator

 

Facility pilot plant. The machine is similar to those used throughout the

 

country to irradiate food products and medical products. Food also can be

 

irradiated through a process using gamma rays produced by a safe radioactive

 

source, such as cobalt. Another process is being developed using X-rays to

 

irradiate food.

 

 

OCA COMMENTS: Nuclear materials are inherently unsafe. The unnamed nuclear

 

material " such as cobalt " is cesium-137, a byproduct of nuclear energy

 

production. It is much more toxic and has a longer half-life than cobalt-60.

 

The U.S. Department of Energy has pushed food irradiation for 20 years in

 

order to sell off their pile of dangerous cesium-137. If e-beam irradiation

 

paves the way, cobalt-60 and cesium-137 will be used for food irradiation,

 

because the energy source is not listed on the label. In addition,

 

electron-beams can only be used for thin, evenly sized foods like burger

 

patties. Larger foods like whole turkeys must be irradiated with either

 

x-rays or gamma rays from nuclear material. If irradiation is popularly

 

accepted, the DOE will be only too happy to supply cesium-137 at cut-rate

 

prices to irradiate foods.

 

 

Furthermore, meat that is " treated " by an e-beam accelerator receives the

 

radiation equivalent to 1.4 billion television sets.

 

 

What foods can be irradiated?

 

 

- meat

 

- grains

 

- fruits and vegetables

 

- dehydrated fruits and vegetables

 

- spices

 

- seasonings

 

- other non-food uses for irradiation include sterilizing medical products,

 

such as surgical gloves, destroying bacteria in cosmetics, and purifying

 

wool.

 

 

OCA COMMENTS: In addition to the above list, shell eggs were recently

 

approved by the FDA for irradiation. A coalition of food industry groups has

 

asked the FDA to approve luncheon meats, prepared fresh foods (e.g., salad

 

bar items), seeds, fresh juices, sprouts and frozen foods. The FDA hasn't

 

ruled yet, but they will probably use the same science as 15 years ago to

 

approve these foods. If they approve, the only common foods NOT approved for

 

irradiation would be: seafood, dairy (which is pasteurized), honey, coffee,

 

chocolate and oils (fats become rancid easily because of the free radical

 

creation, so they won't be irradiated if they could be eaten raw). Baked

 

goods and dried legumes don't need irradiation. That's about it! Most of our

 

diet could be irradiated!

 

 

Where can I get more information?

 

 

More information about food irradiation and the Linear Accelerator Facility

 

at ISU is available online at:

 

www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsafety/rad/irhow.html

 

To request irradiation services, contact the ISU Meat Lab at (515) 294-6329,

 

or 194 Meat Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-3150.

 

 

END OF TEXT OF THE FDA PAMPHLET

 

 

Organic Consumers Association

 

http://OrganicConsumers.org

 

 

 

Organic Consumers Association

 

6101 Cliff Estate Rd., Little Marais, MN 55614

 

Activist or Media Inquiries: (218) 226-4164, Fax: (218) 226-4157

 

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