What have they dones to me spinach?
Posted on 08/21/2008 5:46:46 PM PDT by Pharmboy
Health regulators have approved the use of ionizing radiation for fresh spinach and lettuce, saying the technique already approved for other foods can help control harmful bacteria and other pathogens.
The Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday the radiation treatment also would make the leafy greens last longer and give them greater "shelf-life" for retailers and consumers.
The approval comes two years after E. coli outbreaks linked to spinach and lettuce sold in grocery stores and served at various restaurants. Outbreaks of the dangerous bacteria sickened dozens of consumers and led some to be hospitalized.
In severe cases, patients developed kidney failure.
Since then, other outbreaks have affected a variety of products, most recently Salmonella contamination in hot peppers from Mexico that surfaced earlier this summer.
"In the aftermath of the recent outbreaks, FDA wanted to fast track an important tool to help industry improve the safety of fresh produce," Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) spokesman Brian Kennedy said.
But FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Kwisnek said the agency was making its decision now because it had finished reviewing all the necessary data.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Gamma is KOOL!
Cobalt 60 rocks!
Check your load density before entering!
As long as they must lable the products, I’m OK with it.
Just don’t be caught smoking.
Sure beats the crap out of E-Coli.
What have they dones to me spinach?
Many people have an irrational, emotional fear of ionizing radiation. The radiation will almost certainly alter some molecules of some nutrients, but not nearly all of them. If you want to make up the difference, take an extra bite of salad. The fiber will do you good anyway.
Taking you chances on E. Coli is very dangerous. E. Coli is a living organism that is trying to eat you alive. As the colony eats you, it multiplies and eats you faster. It sounds a whole lot more dangerous to me to have billions of nasty critters living in me than to have had a bright, high energy light that kills nasty critters shined on my food.
Good move.
Pretty much we understand. This will not hurt...
6 posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 7:57:56 PM by Rudder
Very bad pun.
As we all know, E-Coli beats the crap out of you.
The irony is that the greenies are willing to pay more (and so probably will)for the “natural” stuff.
Me, I’m going to love cheap irradiated salad!
One of the unintended consequences of irradiation is that growers/producers will completely slack off on compliance with hygiene regulations. I don’t know about you, but I am not too thrilled about chowing down on an irradiated feces salad, even though the bacteria may be dead.
It does, slightly, but so does cooking. And not dying of some easily preventable by irradiation infection is worth it. In that sense, it's like pasteurization and sterilization. Believe me, you do NOT want to go back to the (not so) "good old days" before those were discovered and implemented.
"It is not like we totally understand all the nutrients in food and the ways they all work in our bodies."
No, but we "do" understand exactly how radiation effects anything containing chemical bonds. It's called "free radical chemistry", and it's exactly the same as what happens naturally--just at an accelerated rate. The anti-nuke idiots have been postulating irradiated foods contain "unidentified radiation products" (URPS), but despite sixty years of looking for them, none have been found.
I can remember eating irradiated bacon when I was doing my first hitch in the Navy...fifty years ago!...I'm still here!
Pure supposition, and I don’t think that will happen. Can you cite any similar circumstance where something like that happened?
Eggs. You used to able to eat them loose and runny, or even raw if you desired. Now, with chickens be factory-raised in stacked 1'x1'x1' coops, with chicken crap dripping down from the upper levels onto those living in the coop "basement", they need massive doses of antibiotics so they don't drop dead before producing enough eggs to cover their costs.
I realize this isn't migrant farm worker fecal matter, but the concept is the same. I'm willing to pay a little more for locally raised food since I know what I am getting. Helping out my local economy also gives me a sense of satisfation.
All right...fair enough. You sound like you know more about food production than I do, so I just hope what you fear will not happen.
The irony is that if eggs are irradiated, you’ll be able to enjoy them over-easy again.
Will this mean that I can actually get around to eating my lettuce before it has to be throw out? I want it when I’m in the store, I eat it that day, and then it will be 4 or 5 days before I have a taste for it again.
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