Comments on: Irradiated Food

By: John La Puma

John La Puma — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:13:56 +0000

Definitely stomach-turning. I agree with the critics- prevention is key. If the meat industry was more sanitary in the first place, we wouldn’t have to worry about this and numerous other complications. I personally shy away from the labeled irradiated meat, and am appalled by the government’s idea of potentially allowing irradiated meat to be labeled ‘pasteurized’. A healthier (and tastier) way to help stop the growth of E.coli bacteria may lie within the recipe. With a ratio of 7.5 percent spice to 92.5 percent ground meat: clove, cinnamon, garlic, oregano and sage have been found to reduce the bacteria by 99, 80, 75, 50, and 37 percent respectively. In addition, commercially ground meat is known to carry more bacteria than meat from a single animal you grind yourself.
Source: ‘ChefMD’s Big book of Culinary Medicine’. http://www.chefmd.com/book.php

By: Stuart Buck

Stuart Buck — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:30:08 +0000

Microwaves are radiation too. So is visible light. And radio waves. Better shield your house with lead if you want food that never comes in contact with radiation.

By: BrandiMagill

BrandiMagill — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:40:44 +0000

It’s scary to think that the FDA feels that this will have no affect on humans when tests show that it alters the taste, color, and odor of the meat…how could it not lose nutritional value as well? Money, money, money that is all they care about.

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:24:10 +0000

Sorry for being so “talkative” on this one. It’s just a subject I happen to be really concerned about.

Ari, the language in the post includes words like “possible” effects. That seems to be what you’re looking for, and that’s what’s in the post.

Charlotte, those are eye-opening statistics. It’s scary to think about food poisoning, no doubt. I’ve had food poisoning several times in my life (a few times very severely), but in my case it’s always been from restaurants or frozen foods containing meat. (My guess with the frozen foods was they were left out and then put back by store employees.)

I agree with the post that better food processing and accountability is a better option for lowering food poisoning risks.

By: Joe Matasic

Joe Matasic — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:12:23 +0000

Ari, that sounds like the same logic that got us to where we’re at now. Drugs companies don’t worry about “potential” side effects and they don’t want anyone else to either. Tobacco only had the and according to most government still does only have the “potential” to cause cancer and other diseases. Fat, saturated fat, whatever you want “potentially” caused this or that. Never proof anywhere. But scientists, government and then corporations took it and ran. Look where that got us. We’ve screwed with/tried to improve what nature gives us so many times either with good intentions or just plain greed and plenty of times the damaging results do not show up till later.

The post is obviously meant to suggest to warn that you shouldn’t be surprised if some unintended consequences show up later that they aren’t looking for or don’t have the technology, etc.

By: Ari

Ari — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:41:28 +0000

I don’t even see what the point of these posts are if you can’t support your claims. If your goal is to just make us aware of potential (key word: potential) repercussions of irradiating food products, then that is great. Anything else is absurd given the support. These posts are frustrating.