To Irradiate or Not to Irradiate: What Are the Risk-Benefit Arguments in Relation to Food Safety?

In recent years, a great deal of debate has arisen regarding the pros and cons of using irradiation to increase the safety of food. Irradiation of certain food items, such as spices, has been in use for many years, and more recently, federal approval has been granted for the use of irradiation of meat and poultry products. Despite these developments, public opinion has not swung toward favoring the use of irradiated food. Why not? Clearly, this multifactorial question involves, at the very least, public perception of food safety risk versus the risks of the use of radiation, as well as the potential increase in costs to the consumer.

Irradiation of food offers a solution to an age-old problem; available research convincingly argues that its benefits outweigh its risks. However, questions regarding the consequences of its wider application are still being raised. For example, what is the potential for chromosomal damage in persons who consume irradiated foods? What is the extent of loss of nutritional value in irradiated foods? Irradiation of meat and poultry effectively inactivates bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics; it also eliminates other contaminants. Consequently, irradiation has clear benefits. However, because we are not yet able to identify which components of fruits and vegetables are beneficial in protection against some cancers, heart disease, and stroke, neither are we able to measure the effect irradiation has on these components.

Irradiated foods, when further processed by cooking or freezing, may have more vitamin loss than do nonirradiated processed foods. Determining these effects is important and would have implications regarding full disclosure of nutrient content on labels. Furthermore, because of the concern that nutritional deficits increase susceptibility to or progression of some infections, the possibility still remains that irradiating food may predispose some people to certain infections.

To shed light onto some of these questions, 2 opinion pieces have been invited, which address the pros and cons of the widespread use of irradiation as a method of treating food with the view of enhancing food safety. These opinions are not diametrically opposed and offer different perspectives on this issue.

• © 2001 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America