See Also: Food irradiation(health)
health food(medicine)
health food(dictionary)
irradiation(dictionary)
Irradiation(medicine)
X-irradiation(dictionary)
Irradiation(health)
hemibody irradiation(medicine)
cranial irradiation(medicine)
whole-body irradiation(medicine)

Food irradiation (health)


A food safety technology designed to eliminate disease-causing germs from foods. Treating food with ionizing radiation can kill bacteria and parasites that would otherwise cause foodborne disease. Similar technology is used to sterilize medical devices so they can be used in surgery or implanted without risk of infection. The effects of irradiation on the food and on animals and people eating irradiated food have been studied extensively. These studies show clearly that when irradiation is used as approved on foods, disease-causing germs are reduced or eliminated, the food does not become radioactive, dangerous substances do not appear in the foods, and the nutritional value of the food is essentially unchanged.