Did you know irradiated food is creeping into Australia?

Presently it would appear that there are no strict guidelines regarding this, and no requirement to label foods as having an irradiated component.

Reading the Irradiation Free food guide demonstrates we should be demanding to be told just what foods on our supermarket shelves have been irradiated, and that they should be clearly labelled.

Organic food is more expensive, but it would appear to be the only way at present to ensure our families aren't being poisoned.

Workers in this industry have to wear biohazard suiting when processing the food. This should tell us how dangerous is this practice.

Yes even Suschi has preservatives in it to give it a 2 day shelf life.

"Organic food is more expensive, but it would appear to be the only way at present to ensure our families aren't being poisoned."

Poisoned by irradiated food?

What are the poisons that are accumulating in irradiated food?

>>Did you know irradiated food is creeping into Australia?<<

It's not just food that gets irradiated: a lot of medical items - particularly disposable ones - are sterilized by irradiation just like some food. The band-aid you put on a cut, the tongue depressor your GP sticks in your mouth, the syringe you got your last flu jab with: there's a very good chance they've all been zapped with that nasty radiation stuff.

Will you be sticking to nice, healthy, organic leeches for your medical family's medical needs? It is the only way to make sure they aren't being poisoned by sterilized tongue depressors.

>>we should be demanding to be told just what foods on our supermarket shelves have been irradiated, and that they should be clearly labelled.<<

We are:

http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumerinformation/foodirradiation/irradiatedfoods.cfm

>>but it would appear to be the only way at present to ensure our families aren't being poisoned.<<

Your family isn't being poisoned by irradiated foods. They are quite safe - probably a lot safer than they would be if they weren't zapped. Irradiated foods are no more radioactive than other foods. They won't give you cancer or radiation poisoning and sadly no matter how much you eat they won't turn you into Banana Man.

Irradiation does cause chemical changes in the food. This is an experiment you can try at home. Take two chicken thighs. Place one half on the bench and allow to come to room temperature. After this time come back and put the other thigh in your very own home food irradiation box TM - more commonly known as a 'microwave oven'. Set it it for an appropriate time and then watch as your chicken is irradiated to juicy tenderness or stringy dryness - the latter being more likely. Microwave irradiation isn't a great way to cook chicken. Still, I bet that irradiated chicken looks more appetizing than the raw bit. And despite all that irradiation it will be much safer to eat than the raw bit.

Cheers,

Tony

Bugsy,

The preferred method for irradiation uses cobalt 60, being cheaper alternative to caseium 137.This is a byproduct of nuclear reactors.

When ingested, most is excreted in faeces. However small amounts are retained in the liver, kidneys and bone tissue.

Spices are allowed to be irradiated up to 30Gy's, but poultry limit is 3 gy's. The theory is that the higher limit for spices is that they are only ingested in small amounts. Guess that depends on your culinary tastes, but our family uses copius amounts.

The Department of Health and Human Services have affirmed that ingested cobalt 60 can cause cancer.

Nowhere have I been able to find over what term one can safely ingest irradiated food until the amount retained in the body would cause cancer. Maybe this is because there have not been any sufficient long term studies?

As with cellular phones, there are plenty of studies showing the benefits, and decrying adverse effects. But for me, the fact that the above department confirms that cobalt 60 causes cancer is enough to convince me to steer clear whenever possible of irradiated food.

Tony,

A microwave oven uses non-ionising radiation, which is a whole different kettle of fish than cobalt 60.

BTW, we rarely use our microwave, and use a pressure cooker quite a lot when we cook to preserve as many nutrients as possible.

We prefer to eat raw food whenever possible which we grow organically. Took a while to get used to it, but as a member of my family has cancer, we try to eat as wholesomely as possible in the hope this will be beneficial. Who knows? Maybe we've left it too late already, but don't think it can do any more harm than has already been done by our past eating habits.