By Mike Magee, MD

Food-borne safety is front and center once again in America, spawning a boom in home-grown foods and "green" or "organic" alternatives. At the same time, we seem to be losing confidence in an inadequately funded FDA to police food at its source and manage the safety of the increasingly complex global food network.

Under these circumstances, technology can help, but it can also be viewed as a mixed blessing. A case in point is irradiation of food. On the one hand, it provides a safety net against the import of disease-inducing contaminated food, and on the other, it raises fears and reflex concerns about the hidden dangers associated with mixing science with nature.

What are the facts about food irradiation? Irradiation is very similar to the FDA’s primary tool, pasteurization, basically reducing pathogens in a substance, but without the use of heat. It has been approved by all government agencies as safe and effective and carries identical objectives as pasteurization. The process does not make food radioactive nor decrease its nutritional content, yet it remains highly controversial and relatively uncommon in the U.S.

The concept of irradiating food dates back 100 years. But only 10 percent of herbs and spices, and a miniscule .002 percent of fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry in the U.S. are irradiated for safety.

How can you tell if the food you buy has been irradiated? Though rare, a distinctive logo has been developed for use on food packaging, in order to identify the product as irradiated. This symbol is called the "radura" and is used internationally to mean that the food in the package has been irradiated. A written description may also be present, such as 'irradiated to destroy harmful microbes'."

Will consumers buy irradiated food? Studies in the U.S. say yes, and indicate greater concerns about pesticide residues and microbiological contamination. 

Irradiating food is not a cure-all. It does not inactivate viruses and toxins, and does not prevent subsequent human contamination. But it does markedly improve food safety, providing an effective critical point of control. Expanding food irradiation to ensure food safety makes good public policy and good sense. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that irradiating 50 percent of our red meat and poultry would prevent 900,000 cases of food-borne illness per year in the U.S. and save 352 lives. The cost? Just five cents per pound of meat.

To learn more about the details of food irradiation, watch this week’s video, embedded with this blog, or read the full transcript, below. What’s YOUR opinion? Would food irradiation provide more peace of mind for you?