Just finished reading an article about how raw alfalfa sprouts easily spread e-coli, but the problem could be solved by irradiation. So why don’t we?

After all, the US is the land of GMO, pesticides, washed eggs, chlorinated chicken, and pasteurized dairy. How could irradiated produce be any worse?

  • MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io
    31·
    16 hours ago
    1. We do! Or, at least we are allowed to. I’m mostly aware of it being done with meats.

    2. The FDA requires that irradiated foods bear… the statement “Treated with radiation”…

    3. The word “radiation” is scary to the general public. It conjures thoughts of glowing rocks and nuclear fallout. It makes folk imagine that their food might be radioactive.
    • throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      3 hours ago

      My brother runs away from the microwave whenever my parents turn it on… 🤣🤦‍♂️

      Did I mention he’s vaccine skeptical?

    • iarigby@lemmy.world
      3·
      11 hours ago

      Wouldn’t irradiation also affect the good bacteria? Like would one still be able to ferment it?

        • MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io
          4·
          4 hours ago

          Yes, though it does not affect the nutritive content or prevent subsequent cultures from taking root, so you can still inoculate irradiated foodstuffs with live ginger bug, yeast, scoby, mother, etc. or open air ferment.

    • Thorry84@feddit.nl
      13·
      15 hours ago

      Yes the myth that irradiating something makes it radioactive is a very persistent one.

      The reason radioactive material is so dangerous, is because it has the tendency to spread around. Not the radiation, but the material itself. Then people get exposed to that radiation and hurt themselves. There is a particularly tragic accident that happened in 1987 in Brazil where thousands of people got exposed to a stolen radioactive material. Especially when the material sheds dust it’s very dangerous because it can then easily be ingested and even low levels of radiation which normally wouldn’t penetrate the skin can cause issues inside the body.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goiânia_accident

      Another reason the myth persists is because high enough levels of radiation can cause other materials to become radioactive. However on Earth this is only the case inside of fission and fusion nuclear reactors. And the source of a lot of the radioactive waste. But outside of that, nothing on Earth will make another thing become radioactive.

      I know a lot of the food used in the military is normally irradiated. This allows for a long shelf life, which is particularly useful if you are killing kids spreading freedom on the other side of the world.

    • Uli@sopuli.xyz
      12·
      15 hours ago

      I wouldn’t be bothered if the label said my food might me a bit radioactive. But I imagine dragons would.