New FDA rule for irradiation of spinach and lettuce draws heavy criticism

Less than Zero

I don’t like the idea that the food I eat today may have been submerged in gamma rays generated by radioactive cobalt yesterday.

Somehow gamma rays just don’t sound very appetizing. Or safe.

But our government wants us to believe that irradiation of food is quite safe. So safe, in fact, that the FDA recently approved the irradiation of spinach and iceberg lettuce.

Here’s what Dr. Laura Tarantino, director of the FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety, told the New York Times: “These irradiated foods are not less safe than others.”

Really? That weak “praise” is how you try to convince us to eat irradiated food?

Maybe we can understand why Dr. Tarantino seems so tentative with a check of a few other comments about irradiation safety.

Quote…unquote

Bill Freese
Science Policy Analyst, Centre for Food Safety
“Food irradiation is a pseudo-fix. It’s a way to try to come in and clean up problems that are created in the middle of the food production chain. I think it’s clearly a disincentive to clean up the problems at the source.” (Chicago Tribune)

Mr. Freese sharpened his point with this quote for NutraIngredients-USA: “Irradiation is not the solution to food-borne illness. In fact, it serves to distract attention from the unsanitary conditions of industrial agriculture that create the problem in the first place.”

Caroline Smith DeWaal
Food Safety Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest
“The agency is choosing to have a high-tech expensive solution to a problem that needs a more thorough approach and one that really starts on the farm.” (New York Times)

Ronnie Cummins
National Director, Organic Consumers Association
“It’s the latest in a series of PR moves designed to mislead the public from the fact that the government is asleep at the wheel here.” (Chicago Tribune)

Patty Lovera
Assistant Director, Food and Water Watch
“It’s a total cop-out. They don’t have the resources, the authority or the political will to really protect consumers from unsafe food.” (New York Times)

Goodness guaranteed (to be reduced)

Then there’s the nutrition issue, which has been mostly overshadowed by safety questions.

Bill Freese told the Los Angeles Times: “It’s deceptive. An irradiated product looks normal but has invisible reductions in vitamins and nutrients.”

And that’s exactly what HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., stated five years ago in the e- Alert “Don’t Beam Me Up” (9/24/03): “Any electromagnetic radiation strong enough to kill undesirable elements in food is easily strong enough to do the same thing to desirable elements. Denaturing of enzymes, destruction of desirable bacteria, elimination of vital nutrients are all events that will be proven to occur.”

And you’ll never guess who agrees with Dr. Spreen and Mr. Freese: the FDA.

Here are two quotes from the FDA’s recent final rule for the irradiation of spinach and iceberg lettuce:

“Levels of certain vitamins, on the other hand, may be reduced as a result of irradiation.”

“Vitamin A has been identified as one of the most radiation-sensitive of the fat-soluble vitamins.”

All in the family

Spinach and iceberg lettuce are not the first members of the irradiation family. Several years ago, the FDA okayed the use of irradiation of meat, poultry, dried spices, and molluscan shellfish (oysters, clams, scallops, mussels, etc.).

Problem is, the FDA requires that packages of irradiated foods carry a “radura” logo (oddly, the image of a flower in a circle) along with the statement: “Treated with irradiation.” This has been scaring away many customers, so the FDA is considering a proposal to ease off on labeling guidelines.

One president of a company that irradiates food told the New York Times, “People think the product is radioactive.”

No, we don’t think it’s radioactive. We just think it’s a really bad idea.

Sources:
“FDA Allows Irradiation of Some Produce” Gardiner Harris, New York Times, 8/22/08, nytimes.com
“Iceberg Lettuce and Spinach Safe to Irradiate, Says FDA” Jane Byrne, NutraIngredients- USA, 8/22/08, nutraingredients-usa.com
“Irradiating Iceberg Lettuce, Spinach Effective but Not Fail-Safe; Critics Cite Consequences” Elena Conis, Los Angeles Times, 9/1/08, latimes.com
“Irradiation Step Doesn’t Quiet Debate on FDA Moves” Stephen J. Hedges, Chicago Tribune, 8/25/08, chicagotribune.com
“Irradiation in the Production, Processing and Handling of Food” Federal Register, Vol. 73, No. 164, 8/22/08, cfsan.fda.gov