The irradiated fruit will be sold in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle. This is misleading, Hauter said. In pasteurization, food is rapidly heated and cooled.
Microwaves use non-ionizing radiation, meaning that food is largely left intact.
The papayas and other fruits are being irradiated for the purpose of killing or sterilizing fruit flies, a risky proposition given that fruit flies readily mutate when exposed to radiation. Irradiation has numerous harmful side effects, including the destruction of vitamins and nutrients, poor flavor and texture, and the generation of chemical compounds whose possible effects on the body have not been fully studied. Federal government officials have legalized this technology despite a half-century worth of research revealing serious health problems in lab animals that have eaten irradiated food, including premature death, cancer, immune and reproductive problems, liver and kidney dysfunction, and chromosomal damage.