'Organic' And 'Irradiated' Not Mutually Exclusive

Posting Date: 03/28/2000

If the proposed definition for "organic" food is accepted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, any fruit, vegetable or meat that is irradiated would be rejected in the category, which doesn?t make any sense at all.

For one thing, irradiation doesn?t make food glow in the dark, but the energy rays do kill bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli, which can be deadly.

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In fact, if food is naturally fertilized with manure, there is a danger of contamination with E. coli, an outbreak of which would really put a damper on the organic food industry.

Also, remember it was unpastuerized apple juice that was the source of an E. coli outbreak a few years ago. That juice could be irradiated and it would affect the flavor much less than pastuerization.

And, let me ask you this. What is the worse thing you can do to degrade food? Irradiate it or cook it? I?d say that cooking food ? stewing, boiling or frying it ? is the most traumatic thing you can do to food. If you cooked a strawberry, you?d notice a big change, but irradiate the fruit and you wouldn?t notice anything different.

So is cooked food "inorganic"?

Irradiation doesn?t cause cancer-causing substances or reduce nutritional value and the process is safe enough to be endorsed by the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the U.S. Department of Health and the American Medical Association.

I?m all for organic farming and even took classes in the subject at the University of California. It can be good for the environment and the food may even taste better. But, I see nothing wrong with irradiating it to make it safer to eat.

Source: Washington Post, Page Z11 "Eating Right," March 28, 2000