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Health & Fitness

FDA Gets Radiation Happy With Our Food

by Long Island Attorney Paul A. Lauto, Esq.

The food manufacturing process in our country is inefficient, resulting in a serious problem in the control of food borne pathogens and the illnesses they cause.  In the past, the FDA who is charged with protecting consumers from such a problem, has addressed the issue by treating the symptoms and not the cause.  Instead of working harder to eliminate unclean and unsanitary food manufacturing and handling conditions, the FDA approved the irradiation of meats, poultry, fruits, vegetables, spices, lettuce and more (See our  March 4, 2014 Scales of Justice article entitled "FDA Affirms Irradiation of Lettuce and Spinach Despite Objections" at www.liattorney.com/scales-of-justice.html).

The FDA has recently announced the expansion of the list of foods now approved for radiation treatment.  In addition to all those foods listed above, the FDA has now added crustaceans such as crab, shrimp, lobster, crayfish and prawns.  This decision was in response to a petition filed by the National Fisheries Institute and made "...to control food borne pathogens and extend shelf life."  According to the FDA, "At the maximum permitted dose of 6.0 kiloGray, this new use of ionizing radiation will reduce, but not entirely eliminate, the number of pathogenic (illnesses causing) microorganisms in or on crustaceans."

Read the full post at www.liattorney.com/scales-of-justice.html.

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