Irriadiated Salad: Coming Soon to the US Grocer Near You

[tcmgpt13]

Irradiated produce will soon be common in the US. As if shipping produce long distances, thereby decreasing its food value, is not sufficient it appears that any remaining nutrition in fresh produce will be zapped with radiation. Hmm, wonder if it will help kill the morg parasites? Some parasites such as schistosomas are treated with radiation in Western medicine. Not that I think we morgies want to be guinea pigs by regularly eating irradiated produce. The original reason for having the FDA was to prevent food from being adulterated by producers. Now it seems to have become the "norm" to have the FDA stamp its approval on all sort of adulterated foods. I think this is one way the Grocery Manufacturers Association may be able to sneak in the practice of irradiating produce. So far consumers have been against this type of adulteration, but with recent outbreaks of food borne illnesses in produce, this idea is being pushed forward in a climate which may be more accepting of this process. The real reason the Grocery Manufacturers Association seems to want this process is that:

"The FDA determined that irradiation can kill E. coli, salmonella and listeria, as well as lengthen the greens' shelf life, without compromising the safety, texture or nutrient value of raw spinach lettuce."

Ah, those golden words to those who sell foods: lengthened shelf life. Never mind the nutritional value of the food. Now produce can join all those irradiated herbs which are sold by some folks to treat illness. Another area where it is important to buy organic is the herbal area.

I notice that nothing is being said about the safety of exposing everyone to yet more low levels of radiation in a new way, by inserting it into food which is eaten every day. Also nothing has been said about whether this will effect the flavor of "fresh" produce.

In my county the only large health food recently closed, a victim of economic slow down. I hope that we can support those farmers and growers who are concerned about food quality and food safety. I know I will be going to the small stores which do carry organic produce as well as continue to purchase as much as possible from the organic food sections of my local grocery store.

CBSNews.com: Print This Story

Salads To Get New Dressing - Radiation

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2008(CBS/ AP) Consumers worried about salad safety may soon be able to buy fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce zapped with just enough radiation to kill E. coli and a few other germs.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday will issue a new regulation allowing spinach and lettuce sellers to take that extra step, a long-awaited move amid increasing outbreaks from raw produce.

It doesn't excuse dirty produce, warned Dr. Laura Tarantino, FDA's chief of food additive safety. Farms and processors still must follow standard rules to keep the greens as clean as possible and consumers, too, should wash the leaves before eating.

"What this does is give producers and processors one more tool in the toolbox to make these commodities safer and protect public health," Tarantino said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, each year more than 300,000 people are hospitalized and 5,000 die from food-borne illnesses, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

Irradiated meat has been around for years, particularly ground beef that is a favorite hiding spot for E. coli. Spices also can be irradiated.

But the Grocery Manufacturers Association had petitioned the FDA to allow a list of fresh produce and other foods to be irradiated as well - starting with leafy greens that have sparked numerous recent outbreaks, including E. coli in spinach that in 2006 killed three people and sickened nearly 200.

The industry group wouldn't name salad suppliers ready to start irradiating. But it expects niche marketing to trickle out first - bags of spinach and lettuce targeted to high-risk populations such as people with weak immune systems "who right now may be afraid to eat uncooked produce," said GMA's chief science officer Robert Brackett.

"It's one big step forward in improving the safety of fresh produce," he added.

The food is barded with high-frequency radiation - about 15 million times that of a single chest x-ray, reports Tracy.

"It kills the bacteria, makes it so they are not able to reproduce and … make you sick," microbiologist Brendan Niemira told CBS News.

A leading food safety expert said irradiation indeed can kill certain bacteria safely - but it doesn't kill viruses that also increasingly contaminate produce, and it isn't as effective as tightening steps to prevent contamination starting at the farm.

"It's a high-tech solution to problems that should be solved earlier in the food chain," Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest told CBS News.

She questioned why the FDA hasn't addressed her agency's 2006 call to require growers to document such things as how they use manure and ensure the safety of irrigation water. Irrigation is one suspect in this summer's nationwide salmonella outbreak attributed first to tomatoes and then to Mexican hot peppers.

"We are not opposed to the use of irradiation," DeWaal said. But, "it's expensive and it doesn't really address the problem at the source."

Won't zapping leafy greens with X-rays or other means of radiation leave them limp? Not with today's modern techniques and the right dose, the FDA decided.

The FDA determined that irradiation can kill E. coli, salmonella and listeria, as well as lengthen the greens' shelf life, without compromising the safety, texture or nutrient value of raw spinach lettuce.

E. coli actually is fairly sensitive to radiation, while salmonella and listeria require more energy. While irradiation doesn't sterilize, the FDA ruled that food companies could use a dose proven to dramatically reduce levels of those germs, a dose somewhat lower than meat requires.

But consumers shouldn't consider irradiation a panacea, either. While E. coli and salmonella tend to affect more people and make bigger headlines, consumer advocate DeWaal has found that norovirus contamination is a leading cause of produce outbreaks.

The irradiation rule goes into effect Friday. The FDA still is considering industry's petition to allow irradiation of additional produce. The grocery manufacturers group will push for other greens, such as Romaine lettuce, to be next, so that producers could irradiate bags of salad mixes.

While irradiated foods initially caused some consumer concern, FDA's Tarantino stressed that the food itself harbors no radiation.

"There is no residue, there's nothing left and certainly no radioactivity left," she said.


© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[carla]

It is unbelieveable what they are getting away with TC .
We shouldnt stand for this crap.
They don't even try to cover things up anymore.

Won't zapping leafy greens with X-rays or other means of radiation leave them limp? Not with today's modern techniques and the right dose, the FDA decided.

Nevermind the leafy greens .What about our kids being left a bit limp.
carla xxx

[tcmgpt13]

Well, Carla, at least they won't have e-coli. Sorry, very bad joke. It leaves me stunned that any government agency, much less one assigned to protecting the food supply, could think that regularly exposing food to low levels of radiation was healthy or left any nutrition in the food. Wasn't this something that they warned us about in all those propaganda movies about the aftermath of dropping atomic weapons? How dangerous it was to eat such food? How duplicitous. It is all about shelf life. It is not about food safety. It seems to be too late to write letters of protest. I think they only let folks in on it after it was a done deal. Hmmmm. Must have been a lot of good parties after this one. Wonder if the hors d'oeuvres were irradiated or maybe the groceries were organic. I guess those folks can easily afford it.

[pat]

Old hat this carla.didn't ya know Britain has been flying prawns to Holland for years to be irradiated??Thats just one thing I know of.This is probably why we are all running around with this electrical charge in our bodies,from eating prawns and stuff.Maybe we ought to run a gigacounter over ourselves.I think our salad stuff gets it too.Not to mention the veg thats treated with 'gases' (no-one knows what 'gases' they are but hey gases are gases at the end of the day.) and then stored in a warehouse fridge for a YEAR before being chucked out into the shops and unsuspecting public.THATS why the carrots are mouldy in a couple of days and the turnips and parsnips are woody and uneatable.

[Kritters]

you:

Oh, so...you work for the FDA? Why are you irradiating our food?

FDAE:

humm? What radiator where?

You:

Do you have children? Do you plan to have children?

FDAE:

hmmm? heck no! I'm making so much money and besides, I would NEVER bring a child of mine into this world!

[carla]

Robinsons Juice has Aspartame in it now.I couldn't believe it.
Everything else has that awful syrup crap they substitute for sugar.
Thats before you get to the endless additives.No wonder Kids behave like they do.
And while I'm here what about Salt.I am sick of reading warnings about it. It is essential for our health but Health Authorities spend money on campaigns to stop us using it.
WTF is going on .
carla xx

[pat]

Yes well I put himalayan pink salt in everything i hate food with no salt.So take no notice of the meddling sad b*******
Also what about making your own lemonade for the kids.Even go into country some time and get some elderberry and do that too.Nettle beer is another thats good for you-i loved that when I was a kid.Gingerbeer another one.Not hard to make and at least you know whats going in to it.
Its obvious carla that by putting this crap into drinks etc it will make kids hyper and out of control which is what they seem to want.We are fast approaching a society thats going to be full of unrest.NOTHING is being done to curb the awful violence thats going on,in fact if you really look at it it seems to be encouraged.Any govt could get on top of this problem quickly,if they wanted to-but I don't think they want to at all.What does it tell you if you as an innocent get attacked and you defend yourself,you are put in custody and charged.The attacker walks away.It all stinks.

[carla]

OMG Pat ,It is in everything .I think I'll stick to water and the kids will have to get used to it.
Oh no I can't because it is full of that Flouride crap.They even put it in Bottled water now.
There is no escaping this crap.We been force fed it for years already.

Much worse, on 27 June 1996, without public notice, the FDA removed all restrictions from aspartame allowing it to be used in everything, including all heated and baked goods.

Scroll down to see the list of symtoms Aspartame causes. I have nearly all of them.

Bad News about products with Aspartame

Carla xxx

[pat]

Ditto carla so have I.Well stop using it for a couple of months as he suggests and see if you feel any different.In fact everyone should try this experiment.Give the kids bottled water-lidl is cheapest.Are you sure you have fluoride in water over there.? I read its in the North east where they have it.They certainly haven't got around to putting it in ALL Uk water thats a fact.
Or if you HAVE got it in ya water buy a water filter,this is prob the best solution.Given a choice between aspartame and fluoride I would go with the fluoride,so give your kids water,it'll be better for them than the fizzy drinks anyway.You could make lemonade and sweeten it with sugar too.OMG isn't life becoming depressing!!!

[tcmgpt13]

Fluoride is not as easily filtered out of water as are other elements in water. You need a special filter which will also remove fluoride if using an ordinary water filter. Even reverse osmosis water will not remove all fluoride, though it will remove most of it. Another option is to buy a small counter top water distiller, an easy way to remove nearly everything from water, or purchase distilled water at the grocery store.

I have posted this link before but will post it again here as it seems relevant to the discussion of fluoride removal from water:

How to Remove Fluoride from Drinking Water

Another thing, prolonged low dose exposure to fluoride may be behind some people's thyroid problems. Certainly if thyroid disease is present it is best to limit fluoride intake in water and to avoid tooth paste and mouth wash which has added fluoride.

What are the Thyroid-Specific Concerns?

Is fluoride in part the reason for near epidemic levels of hypothyroidism in the United States? Some experts and researchers believe this is the case. This is from the second page of a three page article:

Hidden Danger in Your Drinking Water and Toothpaste / Fluoride and Fluoridated Water's Link to Thyroid Disease

"Fluoride had been used for decades as an effective anti-thyroid medication to treat hyperthyroidism and was frequently used at levels below the current "optimal" intake of 1 mg/day. This is due to the ability of fluoride to mimic the action of thyrotropin (TSH). It makes sense, then that out of the over 150 symptoms and associations of hypothyroidism, almost all are also symptoms of fluoride poisoning.

Researcher and advocate Andreas Schuld has also found that excess of fluoride correlates with other thyroid-related issues such as iodine deficiency. Fluoride and iodine, both being members of the halogens group of atoms, have an antagonistic relationship. When there is excess of fluoride in the body it can interfere with the function of the thyroid gland. It is possible that iodine deficiency, which is the most common cause of brain damage and mental disability in the world, could be lessened by simply cutting back on the use of fluoride."

This article also discusses how aluminum is often used to clarify water and if fluoride is present the body will absorb both of these elements easily:

"Aluminum compounds are frequently added to the water supply as clarifying agents. On its own, aluminum is not readily absorbed by the body, however, when fluoride is present, the two form aluminum-fluoride, which is easily absorbed. A long term study published in 1988 found that even low levels of aluminum-fluoride in drinking water delivered more aluminum to the brain than concentrated aluminum fluoride. The same study found that low levels of aluminum fluoride and sodium fluoride found in "optimally" fluoridated water cause severe kidney damage and lesions to the brain similar to those found in Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. Dr. Robert Isaacson, State University of New York, found that when aluminum fluoride is added to the food of rats, the rats developed short-term memory problems, smell sensory loss and other characteristics of Alzheimer's disease. (Isaacson, R. "Rat studies link brain cell damage with aluminum and fluoride in water" State Univ. of New York, Binghampton, NY, Wall Street Journal article by Marilyn Chase; Oct. 28, 1992, p. B-6)."

First page of this article starts here:

Hidden Danger in Your Drinking Water and Toothpaste / Fluoride and Fluoridated Water's Link to Thyroid Disease