FDA: Irradiating spinach, lettuce OK to kill germs

I do not believe in irradiating foods because the long term outcome is not known. Irradiating would kill all germs, not just the "bad" ones. Our immune and digestive systems require some germs in order to function properly.
As a chef, gardener, and herbalist I believe in the proper handling of food from the producer to the consumer.

katurahblue has contributed a photo to this story.

one of the pictures is mine from my home garden and I grow my own spinach just so I don't have to deal with FDA deciding what is ok and not ok for me to eat since I've seen how well they didn't do there jobs in the past.

how long before we're all testing our food for radiation before eating?

We are becoming a contaminated species. And we have no idea how that will affect us! We see no end in sight although we’re already poisoned by the pesticides and polluted water.  Now we are being fed radiation-poisoned fruits and vegetables. I’m not even mentioning the beef. I’m not even mentioning the household chemicals and the poisoning of our beloved pets.  And I can’t get into specifics because I’m just a lowly individual and don’t have the “facts & figures”.  What I do know is that radiation was an issue 20+ years ago when it first came to our attention.  `Has that changed?  How can it be that radiation kills in large doses, but miraculously doesn’t affect our bodies when we eat food that’s been zapped?  How much are they going to charge for poisoning us some more?  How much do we have to pay for their neglect in the farming & cattle industries?  When are they going to take responsibility for wholesome products? When we all start raising our own products?  I’m going in that direction anyway.  I feel for those who still don’t get it. If you change, chemically, anything natural, it’s got to be bad, in one way or another.  The earth we use to grow our produce in and the water we drink and use for that produce are tainted.  Even though I believe we actually have a chance to turn this pollution of our natural world around, it’s certainly not going to happen like this. 

I, personally, like the farmer who said he get more satisfaction out of having grass-fed cattle than he does money, but doesn’t care.  At least he knows the state of his animals.  He probably realizes that you have to take care to get a good product and that you have to honor the animal’s existence, for without it, you could die.

By the way, how many “irradiation” (which means “to expose to radiation”) machines are there? How much do they cost? What’s the zap level? What’s the cut-off level for harmfulness?  Where are the “irradiation” labels on the packages? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one. Maybe it look like this:

http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2007/radiationsymbol.html

Watch for it, people. It doesn’t look good from here.

I could cry, because there’s so much more to say!  And although we say it, no one wants to hear it.  I feel a little better anyway.

So much food is so messed about with these days, it's no wonder so many folks are geting so many diet-related diseases. Farmers Markets, and CSAs are a great idea.

I don't agree with irradiating food.

We are getting further and further away from being involved with our food, we buy it processed and packaged de-bugged and we cook it in the microwave. I grew my spinach in the garden, with no chemicals, we compost our green wast and recycle grey water. Our continual reliance on chemicals, processing and packaging is not sustainable.

Growing your own food is easy and incredibly satisfying but when we separate our selves from the process by buying "clean" pre-chopped food the thought of cookig a meal or growing food becomes daunting.

I'd prefer to see money spent on allotments for schools, so kids can start to be involved with their food and where it comes from not new ways to make it "safer".

niddynoo has contributed a photo to this story.

I still don't know enough about food irradiation to make an intelligent decision on the matter. It may (or may not) be perfectly safe.

For peace of mind, though, and for the pure satisfaction of being deeply involved in where my food comes from, I try to eat local and organic as much as possible. I keep a small organic garden to produce the vegetables I use most often, and I belong to a CSA, which provides me with local organic vegetables, local fruit, and eggs from hens that are truly free-range.

rswanker has contributed a photo to this story.

In fact, we call this morning glory vege.

TA has contributed a photo to this story.

As a spinach grower, we work very hard to keep the product clean and safe - I would hope people would look more to buying fresh from a local farmer rather than tahe the zap everything to be sure it is safe approach. It takes great attention to details to grow the best and sometimes I wonder if the products brought in from great distances have that care applied in every step. So if you do not know where it comes from, how do you know - unfortunately I see the future bringing more and more of these broad "zap it to make it safe" presures. If it is a common practice and a grower refuses are they now more exposed to liability because did not take every action to kill pathogens? Will my wholesale customers refuse to buy spinach if it is not zapped - will my insurance require it? We are trying to bring focus to local farmers at blog.meetthefarmer.tv.

Planet Earth Diversified has contributed a photo to this story.

Several years ago we produced and disrtibuted a video with Amory Lovins who had just wrote a book about the dangers of food irradiation.  In Portland, Maine, a citizen presented our video on food irradiation in the spring of 1993 to the Maine Agricultural Committee…  The bill, which would have allowed the irradiation of food was subsequently defeated unanimously by that committee, due in part to our video.   We need more of this kind of citizen leadership to keep the influences of big agribusiness in check.

This photo was taken by me, which I was impressed by, as I cannot usually grow Lettuce on the heavy clay of my allotment. I will continue to grow them now in the following years, and hope that I will have a good crop.

I grow my own vegetables on my allotment, and usually find they taste completely different to the supermarket/greengrocer's brand. I try not to use any chemicals, which is a common and traditional method used today.

However, after reading the article, it has made me feel even more determined to carry on growing my own vegetables. On one side, the use of radiation does kill the E. coli virus, but on the other, do we really want to be eating lettuce or spinach which has been put through this process?

I know that a small amount of radiation will not harm us, but if we are eating vegetables etc on a daily basis with a treatment of this, could it eventually do damage to our bodies? That is the big question.

web.surfer186 has contributed a photo to this story.

Radiation, small amount or not, WILL harm us!
Even if it didn't, there would be no further point to eating the food, as the food would be 'dead', its phytonutrients destroyed, and would give our bodies nothing good.

As for E.coli, think of this; how many people, per year, does E.coli on fresh produce harm?
How many people, per year, do pet dogs harm?

Since the number on pet dogs is far greater, why don't we irradiate (a small amount of irradation, mind you.) and kill the dogs, so that there would be no further risk? I'm sure the dogs would bring you the same joy if you stuffed them and set them by your recliner.

We get much joy out of our living pets.
Can we not be allowed to continue to get good out of living produce, as well???

-Tirzah Duncan

As far as I understand irradiation, it will kill pretty much everything, good and bad, making the food sterile. I understand it also increases 'shelf life' so we shall not know how old the food is.

I am totally against tinkering with food, and prefer the kind that  web.surfer186 grows, having sampled some of his produce.