Slow Acceptance Of Food Irradiation Method Seen By Producers

August 28, 2008 9:56 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The new U.S. Food and Drug Administration law permitting the use of irradiation on spinach and iceberg lettuce will take some time before it will be practiced widely across the country.

According to David Gombas, senior vice president of the United Fresh Produce Association, the slow adoption to the technique is due to its cost, lack of irradiation facilities, questions over its effectiveness and consumer response to produce zapped by radiation waves.

The FDA has permitted irradiation since 2000 but it has been mostly used for medical products. Prior to the addition of the two veggies, irradiation has been used on a limited scale on meat, poultry, spices and certain shellfish.

Due to the lack of irradiation facilities, food firms have to send their products in places where there are available radiation equipment, but it causes the products to lose some of its shelf life, Gombas said.

Irradiation has better performance when it comes to killing food bacteria compared to chlorine washes, according to Brendan Niemira, researcher at the Microbial Food Safety Research Unit of the USDA center in Pennsylvania.

By exposing spinach and lettuce to low radiation, 99.9 percent to 99.99 percent of E.coli is killed, while chlorine-washed veggies get 90 percent to 99 percent of the bacteria, according to studies.