Irradiated food report “factually incorrect”, says industry

Date: 12/12/02

By Karen Carstens

GREEN MEP Hiltrud Breyer has been accused by industry of potentially misleading her colleagues in a report on irradiated food ahead of a crucial vote in the Parliament.

Business hopes MEPs will extend the list of foodstuffs in the EU which can be irradiated, giving them a longer shelf-life - but see the Breyer report as a setback.

"It makes factually incorrect claims and unsubstantiated insinuations about the health and safety of irradiated foods as well as the irradiation process," said Pierre Dardenne, general manager of Belgian-based international sterilisation and ionisation company IBA Mediris.

Irradiated foods are treated with high-energy, ionising radiation that can prolong shelf-life of products and/or reduce health hazards associated with pathogenic micro-organisms.

But German Breyer begs to differ. "Consumers don't need it, and they don't want it," she said. "Consumers are being misled because irradiation can be used to cover up for food that is actually rotten."

For example, she said, one food scandal in Germany involved raw rotten eggs that had been irradiated, so the usual tell-tale stench had been eliminated.

MEPs are set to vote on the report on Tuesday (17 December).

It lays out three options for food irradiation in the EU: sticking to a list currently limited to aromatic herbs, spices and vegetable seasonings; extending that list to include shrimps and frog legs; or widening it to encompass a greater range of foods, including chicken and potatoes. Breyer envisages MEPs settling for the second option.

Dardenne said her report contradicts recommendations of the World Health Organization and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation on the promotion of food safety and food-borne diseases. "Food irradiation is not a new and unknown technology," he said. "The safety record of the irradiation process is excellent."

But Breyer said there have been no long-term studies conducted on whether irradiation alters chemical structures inside foodstuffs and what health risks such changes could pose to humans.

"This is not a risk worth taking," she said, adding that the health argument could be used to "irradiate all foods and pump them full of antibiotics" to make sure no one becomes ill.

Green MEP Hiltrud Breyer has been accused by industry of potentially misleading her colleagues in a report on irradiated food ahead of a crucial vote in the European Parliament.