Subject: Re: food irradiation

From: "john valenzuela" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 02:59:49 PDT

I don't see that food irradiation fits into permaculture. 

I'm not an expert, but it is my understanding that food irradiation is a 
post harvest process that takes fresh produce and exposes it to gamma 
radiation at levels of about 1,000 times that of a chest X-ray.
This destroys bacteria and other life, allowing the produce to take 
weeks to rot (in the case of strawberries for example)  This is ideal 
for the long distance shipment of produce, the basis of large scale 
export, which displaces fresh, yet more perishable local produce. 

This process disrupts local economies, taints the food with unknown 
toxins, and perpetuates the validation of the toxic legacy of the 
nuclear industry- from the uranium mines, and thier toxic tailings, 
weapons of mutually assured destruction, and power plants that will be 
deadly radioactive for many thousands of years. This transportation and 
use of low level radioactive elements already exists in hospitals for 
sterilization of medical supplies.  It is not widely known that most all 
spices that are imported into the United States have been irradiated.  

There is a group called 'Food and Water' based in Vermont whose grass 
roots efforts are to stop food radiation. They have extensive 
information on the issue. Unfortunately I don't have their contact info. 

For an article about our experience with the issues surrounding t 
proposed food irradiation facility here in Hawai'i, go to: 

//planet-hawaii.com/kau-landing  

click on 'read from past issues' and go to the Jun '97 issue were you 
can read: 'The Economics of Irradiation: Boon or Boondoggle?'

I prefer to enjoy food grown near where I live, support local economies, 
and work toward a nuclear-free world.

with aloha 'aina
-John

John Valenzuela Permaculture Services 
PO Box 1280 Pahoa, Hawai'i 96778
e-mail: [email-masked]

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

---

From: Tom Berthold <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 09 Sep 1997 15:37:50 -0500

I'm all for eating raw, uncooked foods for getting optimum nutrition,
but irradiation probably has fewer negative effects on the nutritional
quality of foods than any other form of cooking or preservation.  Any
health concerns about food irradiation are far outweighed by the
benefits received from elliminating pathogenic bacteria.  I don't have
specific information on the effect of irradiation on enzymes but I would
assume it is less than from actually cooking the food, which pretty much
destroys them all.  Eat fresh fruits and vegetables when you can but
don't be afraid of irradiation.   

According to the American Diabetic Association:

"Because irradiation does not substantially raise the temperature of the
food being processed, nutrient losses are small and are often
substantially less than nutrient losses associated with other methods of
preservation, such as canning, drying, and heat pasteurization and
sterilization.  Proteins, fats, and carbohydrate are not notably altered
by irradiation.  In general, those nutrients most sensitive to heat
treatment, such as the B vitamins and ascorbic acid, are those most
sensitive to irradiation.

"Irradiation does cause changes in food, all of which have been found to
be benign. More than 40 years of multispecies, multigenerational animal
studies have shown no toxic effects from eating irradiated foods.
Additionally, human volunteers consuming up to 100% of their diets as
irradiated food have shown no ill effect. Irradiation produces so little
chemical change in food that it is difficult to design a test to
determine whether a food has been irradiated.  
 
"A small number of new compounds are formed when food is irradiated,
just as new compounds are formed when food is exposed to heat. Early
research described these new compounds as "unique radiolytic products"
because they were identified after food was irradiated. Subsequent
investigations have determined that free radicals and other compounds
produced during irradiation are identical to those formed during
cooking, steaming, roasting, pasteurization, freezing, and other forms
of food preparation. Free radicals are even produced during the natural
ripening of fruits and vegetables. All reliable scientific evidence,
based on animal feeding tests and consumption by human volunteers,
indicates that these products pose no unique risk to human beings. In
fact, people requiring the safest food, hospital patients receiving bone
marrow transplants, are routinely given irradiated foods. Furthermore,
because spices, being of tropical origin, are often microbe laden,
irradiated spices are preferred for routine use in hospital foodservice
for patients. Thus, as with pasteurization, the evidence suggests that
food irradiation can make a quality food supply better."

---

From: Craig Lanoye <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 09 Sep 1997 20:59:48 +0000

Tom Berthold wrote:
> > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.co

We can talk of the studies concerning food irradiation all day(ie:
who sponsered them and what may be the motive).  To me the issue is
labeling.  Tell me what it is and I'll decide if its food thank you.
Same goes for genetic "enhancement" of foods.  
Many people have lost faith in science that insults their common
sense and so may choose to avoid these new miracle foods on principle
alone.

---

From: "Tim Reynolds" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 10:05:47 +0000

> > I don't see that food irradiation fits into permaculture.

[post harvest stuff snipped]

> > spices that are imported into the United States have been irradiated.

[snip]

> > e-mail: [email-masked]

Please don't confuse radiation with radioactivity.

It is my understanding that irradiation of food makes use of high 
voltages to create ionising radiation, much the same way as x-rays 
are produced. In both processes there is no involvement of 
radioactive materials and no radioactive by-products.

The nuclear industry may produce the power for food irradiation 
plants, but this may not be the case. You cannot involve the nuclear 
industry in a debate about a process that could be powered by wind 
or wave power.

Tim Reynolds
==================================================
Tim Reynolds

Motiv Systems Ltd
Orwell House, Cowley Road
Cambridge CB4 4WY
E-mail:[email-masked]	
(http://www.motiv.co.uk)
(http://java.motiv.co.uk)	
				
Tel:+44 (0)1223 576318		
Fax:+44 (0)1223 576319

---

From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 23:54:01 -0400 (EDT)

> > > I don't see that food irradiation fits into permaculture.
Agreed. Why don't we try to end this thread pretty soon?

> radioactive materials and no radioactive by-products.

Wrong. Electricity is not used. Spent nuclear fuel is used to irradiate
food products. It probably kills enzymes in the food utilized by humans 
for digestion. It may destroy vitamins & produce unhealthy or toxic
byproducts as well.

For all you would like to know about food irradiation call:

Food and Water
Vermont, USA
1-800-EATSAFE (there may be a new number)
- maybe thay have email & a website

---

From: "Tim Reynolds" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:30:04 +0000

> for digestion. It may destroy vitamins & produce unhealthy or toxic

Thanks to all those who mailed me, I stand corrected.
==================================================
Tim Reynolds

Motiv Systems Ltd
				
Tel:+44 (0)1223 576318		
Fax:+44 (0)1223 576319

---

From: "Tim Reynolds" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:30:04 +0000

Motiv Systems Ltd
				
Tel:+44 (0)1223 576318		
Fax:+44 (0)1223 576319

---

From: David Fuller <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 1997 03:27:13 -0700 (PDT)

The object of food irradiation is to stop things moving. By that we mean 
genes, and their products, the various toxins that some E.coli strains 
produce.

We digest proteins that we consume, and interconvert the oligopeptides 
and amino acids into the host of substances that make up our communities.

We convert sugars...we assemble pretty much what 4 billion years of 
genetic experimentation has equipped us to deal with.

But what you are talking about is dead meat...

Very dead meat....meat that the autolysis process has begun to convert 
into the classic "tender" steak. The free radicals and lipid peroxides
have just a tiny path length before they expire in a welter of 
half-denatured proteins (Rare Steak).

A shame that the 25 million pounds of protein-rich food was wasted in a 
world that has so little care for its poor. We are not dealing with 
Cordon Bleu cooking here, but simply the need to provide the basic 
building blocks for life.

On Wed, 10 Sep 1997, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:

> Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 23:54:01 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Lawrence F. London, Jr. <[email-masked]>
> To: Tim Reynolds <[email-masked]>
> Cc: [email-masked]
> Subject: Re: food irradiation
> 
>