>>As a sanity check, consider this - if irradiation of fruits and
veggies was a process that could be economically employed to
render the food "non-toxic" in terms of pesticides in addition
to killing pathogens, don't you think that this would have been
touted by at least one supermarket chain by now?
You likely have been consuming irradiated foods without knowing it and without anyone touting it. Irradiation of some foods has been approved since the 60's and the list of approved foods has been growing. I don't think 'irradiated food' sounds very appealing to consumers at all.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/fs/irradiation/news/irradiation.html
Has not the Almond Board of California changed the description on treated raw almonds from irradiated to pasteurized to make sound more appealing and benign?
Here is the list of irradiated foods allowed by the USDA and CDC:
www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodirradiation.htm#foodapproved
and
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:nn76dUe2wXQJ:fsrio.nal.usda.gov/document_reslist.php%3Fproduct_id%3D142+Almond+Board+of+California+irradiation+pasteurization&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us
I have not seen studies that would demonstrate that carcinogenic, mutagenic, free radical etc. substances are not created during the irradiation. Almond irradiation can make them taste rancid so molecular change do take place. Why would anyone think that anything that breaks down tough viruses and pesticides somehow leaves food and the nutrients in it intact?
As a consumer, at a minimum, I'd want clear labeling of food products that states if a particular food has been irradiated (and don't call it pasteurized) or has been made from irradiated ingredients (a current loophole!). Let's be honest and at least offer the consumer choice in the matter.
Irradiated raw almonds are not raw just as heated honey is not raw. BTW, irradiation can give almonds a rancid taste at 16 kGy. Almonds contain about 45% unsaturated fatty acids and may become more susceptible to lipid peroxidation when irradiated.
Waldemar
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