At a meeting in September, the WHO announced that its research indicates the process is safe, even at doses higher than current recommended top levels. Now, the irradiation industry is applauding a move by the U.S. government to extend the number of products it allows to be irradiated, and is encouraging the Canadian government to follow suit. In the United States, spices, herbs and dry vegetable seasonings are being irradiated at levels up to 30 kGy. The FDA has authorized levels up to one kGy for fruits and vegetables, three kGy for poultry, 4.5 kGy for fresh meat and seven kGy for frozen meat. But the idea of exposing food to gamma rays does not sit right with many people.
Opponents also claim that irradiation produces by-products such as benzene and formaldehyde.
And there's some research indicating that irradiated food may cause cancer in children. Many opponents say that a better approach would be to focus on prevention of food contamination, starting at the farm or ranch. Consumers prefer to have no filth on meat than to have filth sterilized by irradiation. There is also evidence that bacteria could become immune to irradiation, in the same way that overuse of antibiotics seems to be breeding superbacteria. Scientists at Louisiana State University have found that one bacteria occurring in spoiled meat and animal feces, called D. radiodurans , can survive a radiation dose five times what the FDA has approved for beef.