Irradiation and Vegetables

Don't Mix
Some ood ndustry und government ocus beeve
uture outbreuks cun be vurded o by rruduton, vhch
ks bucteru vth hgh doses o ruduton rom rudouctve
muterus und neur ucceerutors. Such hopes, hovever, ure
msguded.
lrst, rruduton cunnot eguy be used to k bucteru on
vegetubes. 1he L.S. lood und Drug Admnstruton n l986
upproved rruduton to k nsects on vegetubes und to
extend she-e. ut ths upprovu vus or ruduton doses
thut ure too ov to k hurmu bucteru such us ,JVSP.
And us t nov stunds, the lDA muy not be n the poston
to upprove the hgher ruduton doses necessury to erud-
cute bucteru. Very tte testng hus been conducted on the
suety und vhoesomeness o rruduted vegetubes und no
pubshed reseurch s knovn to exst on vhether rruduted
ettuce und spnuch ure sue or humun consumpton.
1he ony vegetubes thut huve been studed to uny extent
ure potutoes und onons, und the resuts
huve been mxed. 1hough n most exper-
ments unmus ed rruduted potutoes
und onons suered no uppurent heuth
probems, ths hus not uvuys been the
cuse. Csprng o ruts
ded younger vhen ed
rruduted potutoes,
l
chromosome dumuge vus observed
n mce ed rruduted potutoes.
2
1hese studes vere done
vth oods rruduted ut ov doses.
1he bottom ne s thut the lDA hus tte deu vhether
peope coud get sck they eut rruduted ettuce, spnuch
or uny other vegetube.
Lven t does become egu someduy, rrudutng veg-
etubes to k bucteru s hghy mpructcu. lrst, bustng
ettuce or spnuch vth the equvuent o tens o mons
o chest X-ruys cun run ts uvor, odor, texture und coor.
Compured to dred spces und rozen meut, the products
thut huve typcuy been rruduted n the pust, vegetubes
ure consderuby more decute. 1her ceuur structure cun-
not vthstund the eects o rruduton, vhch uong vth
kng bucteru dumuges everythng ese n ts puth.
Romune ettuce, or exumpe, vus ound to be sgn-
cunty ess rm vhen rruduted ut doses even too ov to
sgncunty reduce bucteru contumnuton.
3
ln unother
study, u tuste pune reported thut rruduton runed the
coor, rmness und overu quuty o romune ettuce.
4
lor
vegetubes n generu, unother study ound thut rruduton
muy nduce undesrube chunges n quuty, such us soten-
ng, brovnng, und oss o vtumn C.
5
Second, there s no system n puce to rrudute urge
umounts o vegetubes und dever them to murket. 1oduy,
ony tvo commercu rruduton uctes speccuy
desgned to rrudute ood ure n operuton. Cne vus but
excusvey to rrudute meut und s ocuted n lovu, vhch
hus ony sx ucres o ettuce urms und ve ucres o spnuch
urms, uccordng to the LS Depurtment o Agrcuture. 1he
other, n lordu, hus u smu cupucty und muny treuts
meut und meus or hosptu putents.
R
ecent outbreuks o ,JVSPbucteru n ettuce, spnuch und onons huve
renvgoruted nterest n rruduton us u vuy to prevent ood-borne ness. 1he
vorst outbreuk vus cuused by contumnuted pre-cut spnuch rom Cuornu, vhch
ked three peope und sckened more thun 200 others n 26 stutes.
Fact Sheet + February 2007
FOOD
udng un nrustructure o rruduton uctes to treut u
meunngu porton o the 9 bon pounds o ettuce und
neury l bon pounds o spnuch consumed n the L.S.
euch yeur voud be un extreme chuenge. Vegetube pro-
ducton s ur ess centruzed thun meut producton (vhch
hus ued n the murketpuce), so ndng hubs or rrudu-
ton uctes to treut vegetubes voud be dcut. And,
resh ettuce, spnuch und other vegetubes huve u very
short she-e, so they very key coud not survve the
uddtonu trunsportuton und hundng tme thut rruduton
requres.
lurther, vegetubes huve u very ov prot murgn or
urmers, processors, dstrbutors und retuers uke. 1he
udded expense o rruduton, vhch drumutcuy ncreuses
the prce o meut, voud key muke treutng ettuce und
spnuch unuordube.
lerhups most sgncunty, Amercuns huve expressed ther
dske und dstrust o rruduted oods or more thun 40
yeurs, snce the lDA eguzed rruduted vheut n l963.
Numerous test murketng eorts huve ued, ncudng rru-
duted ground bee rom 2000 to 2004, und vurous rrud-
uted ruts n the ute l980s und eury l990s.
Muny types o ood cun eguy be rruduted und sod n the
L.S., ncudng bee, poutry, pork, eggs, shesh, uce und
spces. Yet bee s the ony ubeed rruduted ood currenty
knovn to be sod n L.S. grocery stores toduy, und ths n
ony u ev stutes. l sod by tse, rruduted ettuce und
spnuch voud huve to be ubeed, und consumers huve
consstenty been repeed by these ubes. Accordng to
u 2000 po by the lood Murketng lnsttute, neury tvo-
thrds o peope surveyed sud they voud not eut rruduted
oods.
lrruduton hus experenced vuves o nterest over yeurs,
most notuby oovng the l993 ,JVSPoutbreuk cuused by
contumnuted }uck-n-the-ox humburgers n the North-
vest. ut uter neury l00 yeurs o reseurch, ths techno-
ogy hus not been shovn to be un eectve, uordube or
reustc souton to uny ood suety probem.
lnsteud o pursung rruduton, vegetube grovers und proc-
essors shoud mprove uved suntuton pructces thut cun
gve rse to bucteru contumnuton n the rst puce. ln-
ected munure rom u neurby bee cutte runch vus bumed
or the ,JVSPspnuch outbreuk n Cuornu. ln response,
testng o vuter used or rrguton und processng shoud
be mproved, vegetube processng punts shoud be n-
spected more thoroughy, vestock operutons ocuted neur
cropund shoud be more tghty reguuted, und vegetube
processors shoud be better truned.
Aovng contumnuted vegetubes to be rruduted voud
smpy musk unsue producton pructces, vhe suppy-
ng over quuty, ess nutrtous und potentuy huzurdous
ood. Amercun consumers expect more rom the ood
ndustry und ther government representutves.
Lndnotes
l rovne, L.L. et u. Crovth, reproducton, mortuty und putho-
ogc chunges n ruts ed gummu-rruduted potutoes. Contruct report
No. DA-49-007-MD-58l, Depurtment o the Army, Cce o the
Surgeon Ceneru, l959.
2 Cspovu, l.N. et u. lnuence o the storuge und cunury treutment
o rruduted potutoes on the cytogenc uctvty o potuto extructs.
Voprosy ltunyu (LSSR), 4:54-57, l975.
3 lrukush, A. et u. Lects o ov-dose gummu rruduton on the
she e und quuty churucterstcs o Cut romune ettuce puckuged
under moded utmosphere. 1V\YUHSVM-VVK:HML[`, 65(3):549-553,
2000.
4 Hun, }ueoon et u. uuty o puckuged romune ettuce heurts
exposed to ov-dose eectron beum rruduton. 3LILUZT>PZZ<
;LJOUVS (Cermuny), 37:705-7l5, 2004.
5 lun, X. et u. \urm vuter treutment n combnuton vth moded
utmosphere puckugng reduces undesrube eects o rruduton on
the quuty o resh-cut ceberg ettuce. 1V\YUHSVM(NYPJ\S[\YHSHUK
-VVK*OLTPZ[Y`, 5l:l23l-l236, 2003.
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