In light of what is happening in Japan, can anyone provide an overview of food irradiation, its history, applications, how it works and where and when it is used?

radiation damages living tissue.
the tissue that is damaged does not become radioactive.
its been suggested that food is safe to eat as long as it remains sterile, canned food.
i would suppose that garden food would be likewise safe if consumed soon after harvesting.
in both of the examples above the only requirement would be a thorough washing.

edit:

Food irradiation is a process whereby the food is exposed to high levels of radiation in order to kill insects, bacteria and mold, and make the food last longer on the store shelves. Although the idea of radiating food sounds quite unappetizing to most people, it has been practiced in the USA since the 1960's, when the Food & Drug Administration approved the irradiation of wheat and white potatoes. During the 1980s, the FDA approved petitions for irradiation of spices and seasonings, pork, fresh fruits, and dry or dehydrated substances. Poultry received approval in 1990. The FDA approved irradiation for red meat in 1997.
http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/food-supply-report.html

Thanks Leopold99.

Please shed light on radioactive particles within foodstuffs vs food irradiation.
These are two different issues.

from the link i gave earlier:

Grains and other vegetation absorb radiation deposited in the soil by the fallout from these radioactive clouds. When grass is contaminated by radiation and then eaten by dairy cows, radioactive elements are passed through their milk into human bodies, as has been proven by the presence of radioactive elements in the baby teeth of children (for more on this subject see my Radiation, Mercury and Your Teeth Report.)

Radiation that is absorbed by grain crops is transported into food products. The radiation travels along with the grain, surviving ALL refinement and cooking processes. Finally, people consume the grain AND the radiation.

the above is a little misleading by stating the plants "absorb" radiation.
the reality is the plants incorporate the radioactive compounds into its cells as part of a plants normal growth.
plants that have done this are definitely radioactive and eating them would be the same as eating the fallout to which they were exposed.

fallout that falls on plants, if not "absorbed", will have no effect on you.

Unless it is radioactive polonium 210 that has been deposited on the leaves of tobacco plants and stuck to the trichome glands on the leaves. Then, when someone smokes the cigarette the polonium evaporates and is inhaled to be deposited within the smokers lungs. :)

The thing is...it does not seem to be dangerous. It's not that your food gets contaminated with radioactive particles...more like it's run through a really high-bore x-ray machine.

There appear to be two issues with irradiated food: Vitamin degradation and Unique Radiolytic Products (URPs)

The URPs' are made when the high-energy radiation passing through the food knocks atoms off of something random, giving you a compound or chemical you absolutely didn't start out with, and one that's a nasty toxic surprise.

According to these greenies (most certainly a biased source):

http://www.greenlivingnow.com/column/irradiation.htm ,

There's been a lab finding of vastly elevated levels of Benzene in irradiated meat, and serious health damage to animals fed irradiated chicken.

According to this website:

http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/current/FDNS-E-3.html


The most common chemical reaction during food irradiation is the conversion of water to hydrogen peroxide.


The FDA concluded that "very few of these radiolytic products are unique to irradiated foods; approximately 90% of the radiolytic products...are known to be natural components of food" (FDA, 1986).

Personally, I'd be reluctant to eat something if I knew it was irradiated b/c of the URP issue. However, I probably do eat some things and don't know it.
I can't afford organic on what I make.

If it worries you, buy only organic imported fruit and/or ask to look at the box it came in, it will have this symbol on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Radura_international.svg

"If it worries you, buy only organic imported fruit and/or ask to look at the box it came in, it will have this symbol on it:"

When buying imported organic food it would be a good idea to know where it comes from. The standards and regulation for "organically grown" are not uniform or uniformly enforced. I remember an interview with a past official from the USDA who said that even though China had good standards there was no enforcement. He also mentioned that soil and ground water contamination in China alone would exclude organic labeling if grown in the US.

"If it worries you, buy only organic imported fruit and/or ask to look at the box it came in, it will have this symbol on it:"

When buying imported organic food it would be a good idea to know where it comes from. The standards and regulation for "organically grown" are not uniform or uniformly enforced. I remember an interview with a past official from the USDA who said that even though China had good standards there was no enforcement. He also mentioned that soil and ground water contamination in China alone would exclude organic labeling if grown in the US.

True that. China's pretty polluted.

Furthermore...I seem to remember hearing that because the government worries about accidentally importing crop pests along with the food, that some live foods may have to be at least lightly irradiated by law when they get here.

I dunno. At least the stuff that comes out of my yard, well, I know where it's been. including the edible weeds-white clover and chickweed's really growing on me.

I know the Puerto-Rican ginger they sell at the supermarket has a disagreeable taste and texture to me, but that probably down to storage, not irradiation.

Irradiating food is done with gamma radiation. This is the high energy end of the electromagnetic spectrum. It can change the chemistry of food, such as by denaturing proteins, but it positively cannot make food radioactive.

That is a common misconception. If you irradiated food using particulate radiation such as alpha or beta radiation, you might make radioactive isotopes, albeit in very small amounts. With gamma radiation, this is physically impossible.

The only harm that can come from gamma irradiation of food is that, if very heavy doses are used, there might be a small loss in vitamin content, due to chemical changes. If your diet is good, this would be a non issue, since a good diet will have more vitamins than you need, anyway.

The overall chemical changes cause by irradiation are actually a lot, lot less than the changes that come when you cook your food.

On a tangent....In Japan, the safety level of radiation in the water for children under 1 year old is 100. (I cannot remember the units, Sieverts maybe?)

It was found to be 200 in Tokyo, and they issued a ban.

The safety level in the UK is 500, so it wasn't really as bad as reported.

Irradiated food is perfectly safe. The radiation passes straight through killing all bugs in the process. It will probably last for years.