Tyson To Irradiate Foods Poultry giant Tyson announced this month that it will offer consumers the choice of buying irradiated foods next year. These efforts represent a brazen attempt to keep important information from food safety conscious consumers. Earlier this summer, the Organic Consumers Association worked with others to submit approximately 30,000 comments to the Food and Drug Administration demanding that the agency maintain its current strong labeling standards for irradiated food. The FDA announced in February that it sought public comments on whether to change or diminish the label for irradiated food. The move signals the agency's growing commitment to irradiation.
Irradiation is a new technology, relatively untested, and raises several concerns for consumers.
And it is unclear what effect eating irradiated food will have on humans. Studies on animals fed irradiated foods have shown increased tumors, reproductive failures and kidney damage. Chromosomal abnormalities occurred in children from India fed irradiated wheat. Despite irradiation's hazards and drawbacks, it is being aggressively pushed by an embattled meat industry looking for cover in the wake of numerous recent food-borne illness outbreaks, particularly E coli and listeria. According to Agribusiness Examiner, Titan is applying its military technology to zapping the food supply with irradiation.