Comments on: Should we irradiate meat?

By: Aliza

Aliza — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:33:57 +0000

There was also an interesting piece on meat on NPR earlier this week: http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/10/why-is-a-burger-still-unsafe

By: Anthro

Anthro — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:03:48 +0000

Thanks, Matt and For the Love of Food: Good comments and you’ve helped me firm up my position on this.

By: For The Love of Food | Healthy Eating Tips - Upgrade Your Healthstyle | Summer Tomato

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:04:57 +0000

[...] Should we irradiate meat? <

By: Jill

Jill — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:05:17 +0000

Thanks for taking a stand against irradiation of meat.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:05:04 +0000

There is only one industry more corrupt than banking/finance in this country, and that’s big agriculture.

By: morta di fame

morta di fame — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:29:13 +0000

NO!

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:03:05 +0000

We need to do a better job with our food supply than dealing with lax standards by irradiating the feces that end up in our meat. I won’t buy it not because I believe it to be unsafe due to the fact that it was irradiated, but because of the trend it promotes.

By: Anthro

Anthro — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:40:49 +0000

I don’t think irradiation is the answer because of the things you spell out in the post, but I have always been skeptical of the “fear” arguments such as posted by Jeff and attributed to seemingly qualified authorities. Can you elaborate on the professor’s statement, Marion?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:16:25 +0000

This quote from Dr. Samuel Epstein, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Medicine, University of Illinois School of Public Health, Chicago:

“Irradiated meat is a very different product than natural meat. This is hardly surprising as the Food and Drug Administration’s approved dosage of 450,000 rads is approximately 150 million times greater than that of a chest x-ray. Apart from high levels of benzene, new chemicals known as ‘unique radiolytic products’ were identified in irradiated meat in US Army tests in 1977, and recognized as carcinogenic. Later tests identified other chemicals shown to induce genetic toxicity.”

I just hope labeling laws require irradiated meat to be identified as such so I can avoid buying the stuff.