Debate Continues Despite Irradiation

WASHINGTON — After two years of nearly constant food-borne illness outbreaks and recalls of everything from tainted peanut butter to tons of hamburger meat, the Food and Drug Administration's decision last week to allow the irradiation of lettuce and spinach to kill dangerous bacteria didn't surprise the food industry.

Nor did it solve a long-simmering debate over whether the agency's penchant for prescribing such technical fixes to biological problems makes sense. There are strong feelings on both sides of the argument, and the lettuce/spinach decision brought them once again to the surface.

Zapping spinach and iceberg lettuce with a tiny shot of radiation is an effective way to prevent deadly outbreaks of E. coli, according to the FDA, which says that it's safe. But not everyone agrees.

"It's the latest in a series of PR moves designed to mislead the public from the fact that the government is asleep at the wheel here,” said Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association, an organic food watchdog group.

Randy Huffman, president of the American Meat Institute Foundation, which favors irradiation of food, holds a different view.

"Any group that is opposed to a proven, safe technology that enhances food safety is misguided,” Huffman said.

Source: McClatchy-Tribune Information Services