Food Irradiation: A Gross Failure

Irradiated foods are abnormal. Based on research compiled directly from the scientific literature, this report describes the strange, sickening impacts on the smell, taste, color, and texture of food exposed to this invasive “treatment.” Whether meat, poultry, shellfish, or vegetable, this quality damage occurs across many food types. This report also presents evidence on the markedly higher costs of irradiated food and on the irradiation industry’s dire economic straits. The three are intertwined: poor-quality food items that are more expensive than their normal, non-irradiated, counterparts lead to ruined irradiation companies. This report concludes that commercial scale irradiation is a failure — and a gross one at that. Yet, it is a failure that has pulled in millions of dollars over the past five decades in Federal taxpayer support for research aimed at trying to fix the very damage the treatment inflicts on food quality.