Irradiation: A Food Super Power or The Domino To Destruction
Hmmm.. Ugh, questions, questions.. What is my question exactly? Okay, I wasn’t going to post this entry because it is just a jumble of thoughts of trying to gain clarity, but then, maybe, if maybe someone else sees this page, I’ll get a comment, question and/or suggestion to take this topic on a spin.
Food borne illnesses are horrifically painful and if the person dies, it is not a peaceful death. Death is filled with severe pain, wrenching nausea, diarrhea, and convulsions. Right now, the medical field does not have an antidote for most food borne illnesses. My heart is saddened and enraged for the parents whose children have died from eating e-coli infested spinach or another tainted food. What is more sickening, is that we’re supposed to be a FIRST WORLD country! Our standard of living should include the expectation of safe food. Is food irradiation really the answer? Food irradiation seems it can be helpful and life saving in the short run of things but does it have long term lasting effects that we should be made aware of? Should our food chain be tampered with more than it is?
Why does tainted food even get into our food supply? Why isn’t our food supply kept safe?
And if it is because big slaughterhouses just want to make money, and that they don’t care of the consequences (as portrayed in “Fast Food Nation” and “Keep Food Safe”) then, why would we trust the BIG slaughterhouses to not pass irradiated feces exposed meat as a clean product? Does irradiation just make it easier for the BIG slaughterhouses to NOT uphold needed sanitary standards? Irradiation does NOT kill all contaminants…but rather changes their DNA structures so (the bacterium) does not reproduce. It has no effect on viruses…And even irradiated foods can get re-contaminated.
Sanitation standards can not be relaxed because irradiation ” does nothing to remove the feces, urine and pus that often sullies meat in the slaughterhouse” (per Dr. Mercola: at http://www.mercola.com/article/irradiated/irradiated_food.htm)…
I also need more information on if there are any ill effects to the animals that are served irradiated food.. What about the 2-alkylcycloputanones compounds, created when foods are irradiated? Does it effect human consumption? Basically, are we already eating second hand irradiated food? Is this a topic, that is already of null significance? Will tainted food continue to plague our first world standard of living? Is the hoopla of food irradiation already irrelevant?
September 10, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Betty-
Our food system is set up to make a profit; not to provide the best, most nourishing food you can have. That is key. It’s called agribusiness( the growing and raising of food for profit), not agriculture ( the care and cultivation of land for food) for a reason.
Irradiation is one more way to 1) make profit off of imported fruits and veg by killing microbes, so that there is a longer shelf life. 2) make a profit of second grade meat cuts by having a longer shelf life and giving the impression of freshness and health. And you are right- slaughterhouse,
could, if they would, pass on not so clean meats as being okay, since it was irradiated. All the more reason to stick to Oregon beef!
Seriously, though- irradiation is more than a preservation device. It is a way of seeing how see food and it’s value- as a mere commodity, and not the staff of life.
September 15, 2008 at 2:35 am
It seems like a hard question to answer but maybe we shouldn’t let our desperation blind us to accept every method of food purification out there. I remember you saying that the process does not just destroy diseases but might also neutralize other elements in the food. I wonder if that is worth going through the process for. Have you found anything about how much better it is than eating organic food? Of course, it may not be a better method than eating organic food but does it really save us any trouble at all? Is it really necessary to do all this to our food? I remember our class discussing that maybe if we started growing smaller corps would that help with avoiding the e-coli or other pathogens?
September 15, 2008 at 6:49 am
I’m really glad you chose to touch on the food that we receive here in this country. It seems that in the last few years there have been some major cases of foods becoming tainted. I remember growing up the only big scare for food was tainted meat. It seems today that meat is not the big concern. So my big question is: how do they trace e-coli and salmonella back to vegetables? What is it about the vegetables that the bacteria thrives on? There is another thought I had about this and was wondering if you’d studied it at all. I know that in this country, most of the things we buy are made in another country. Is this also true for food? I know I heard that a lot of the vegetables that were tainted came from other countries. Have you found any research that suggests there is a direct correlation between imported foods and food born illness?
Good luck on the rest of your research
-Paul
September 15, 2008 at 6:59 am
This is such a fascinating topic. I really had no idea that this is exsisted or that it would have some kind of health related issues corresponding with it. When did irridation come about? Are you looking at the age groups that it affects? I wonder if it could react to younger people differently than adults. Is it ultimately better than just straight organic foods?
September 20, 2008 at 4:10 am
Just so ya know, I created a Comments category, but have no idea on how to move the comments to it. The blog doesn’t seem to let me respond to each comment individually (meaning, I can’t just click on a comment and respond) …but I will try. I will try.
Firstly, thank you Edie for commenting on my blog and inspiring the agribusiness/agriculture thoughts..(Edie is a super smart friend that I begged for her input).
BettyMay: I haven’t studied organic food that much. I know that some foods can actually be infected with salmonella as seedlings (sprouts for instance) and irradiation does not have any effect on those foods.
Smaller crops and buying stuff at Farmer Markets are definite options but with our mass population I don’t see how that can work for everyone.
Regarding if it is necessary for irradiation to be done; Having higher sanitary standards would probably be a better option. (Thanks for the comment!)..
ThePaul: There is a huge chance of tainted meat, and veggies from imports, because although we have the clean water act in the U.S., it doesn’t stop us from importing foods from countries that don’t meet those standards. (I wish I could find exactly where I read that! I think it was “Fast Food Nation” but can’t seem to locate it now that I would like to use it).
When people get sick (with e.coli and salmonella) the health provider asks them what they ate and then the process of tracing where the contaminated food came from begins.
In 2002, Congress enacted the ‘Public Health Security and Bio Terrorism Preparedness and Response Act’ which requires food-handling companies to keep detailed records to trace foods through the distribution chain.. Global trade identification numbers are assigned to produce cases and standardized bar codes showing packing/harvesting dates and making sure that the info is read and more info stored at each point in the supply chain (kinda like tracking a UPS package).
Regarding produce getting contaminated; I have read that most produce is effected while still in the field from the water it is irrigated with. Water can be contaminated by wild animals, runoff from livestock pastures, leaky waste lagoons at industrial farming. Farmers are supposed to test their water supply, but who knows with imports.
(Thank you for your questions!)
Laurendavis:
Well mostly it just says that only rats get tumors from irradiation. The big concern though is our children are still developing, and if this is a dangerous procedure, or if there are any questions about its safety, our children should not be used as guinea pigs.. (Okaying irradiated meat for the school lunch program, when there are unanswered questions on its potential tumor producing properties and possible chromosomal damage resembles an unethical experiment).
Thanks for the comments!
Everyone, I really appreciate all of the feedback. It has truly helped me with this topic!