Foods that have been irradiated undergo a process which exposes the food to gamma radiation many times higher in energy than the x-rays you get at your doctors office. These gamma rays actually alter the foods' cellular structure. Let's take a look at the effects of irradiated food on a local and global scale for humans and the environment.
What Happens to Food That's Been Irradiated?
The main reasons for irradiating foods are one, to prolong the product's shelf life and two, to kill any harmful microorganisms. These sound like good reasons, but not when the nutritional value or cellular structure of the food hangs in the balance. We can achieve the same affect by preparing the food safely and mindfully.
Irradiating foods does kill bacteria and disease causing organisms, but many can still survive, even after multiple treatments which also kill friendly bacteria. We can kill this unfriendly bacteria by cooking our food at the appropriate degree for each food group and preparing foods in a mindful manner where there is less risk of eating contaminated foods.
Irradiation also destroys the foods vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids. How nutritional does that sound? Another question to consider is, is it worth it, prolonging the shelf life (maybe) a few days when we can eat food prepared naturally with all of its nutritional content.
The Local and Global Effects
More and more people seem to be suffering from allergies each year and I can't help but wonder if it's in part due to consuming irradiated foods. The reason being, is that the body tends to reject the food that has been irradiated by treating it as a foreign invader, thus one becomes allergic to that particular food which would otherwise be a healthy component of that persons diet. This may be one of many reasons for food allergies, so why risk it?
Something else to consider is what the effects of consuming irradiated foods will be on humans twenty years from now. The tests that have been done so far and the results obtained do not tell us anything about what to expect in the upcoming years ahead. The effects of radiation can be felt globally and will affect future generations. Why make it possible for more potential nuclear disasters to occur when there are alternatives to irradiating foods.
Sources:
July 28, 2010, "Irradiation: Is your food being depleted of nutrients?" Accessed, December 1, 2011
2002, "RADIATION, IRRADIATION AND OUR FOOD SUPPLY" Accessed, December 1, 2011
2001, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH FOOD IRRADIATION" Accessed, December 1, 2011
Stefanie Dewysockie - I write about what interests me and based on my education. I always make sure that my sources are the best I can find.
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