Inc. The zappers won't start blasting red meat right away, since the U.S. Agriculture Department must still approve the procedure. USDA places a high priority on the preparation of a final rule for the irradiation of meat to reduce pathogens. The regulation could be law by next summer. Poultry irradiation was OK'd in 1992. The market is not there, nobody's been advertising irradiated poultry.
Food irradiation is blazingly high-tech.
People wearing lead aprons place the food in lead treatment bags that contain a glowing chunk of radioactive waste. When a lettuce seedling next to the bag wilts, the nearly sterile food is ready for shipment. Not exactly . Food is irradiated in buildings like the ones used to sterilize medical equipment and consumer products. Automated trolleys carry the food past a stationary radiation source.