Is radioactivity induced during food preservation by irradiation?
In the food trade, some national authorities, businessmen and comsumers associate food irradiation with radiation induction in the food, with loss of nutritutional value and with potential long-term risk caused by constant consumption of these products. And this does not even count the strong opposition by certain pseudo-ecologist groups which believe that any nuclear-related technique is intrinsically bad. Therefore, at the outset, food irradiation does not have much support for industrial deployment, which is absolutely essential to improve the quality of food in general and solve the problem of world hunger in particular. This singular situation has for some years now been the motivation behind the development of far-reaching research plans of irradiated food, coordinated by United Nations organizations – FAO, WHO, IAEA and the Codex alimentarius Commission – both to promote development and solve the most urgent problems in the most disadvantaged populations (Figure 65). Of course t
