Irradiated meat: what you should know

Shape, Sept, 2004

Irradiating food can make it safer by killing disease-causing bacteria, but most shoppers still shy away from these products. However, experts recently made the case for irradiated foods in The New England Journal of Medicine. Only 10 percent of herbs and spices and far less than 1 percent of fruits, vegetables, meats and poultry are currently irradiated in the United States, according to University of Minnesota researcher Michael T. Osterholm, Ph.D., lead author of the report. If just half of the meat and poultry consumed in the U.S. were irradiated, there would be 900,000 fewer cases of food-borne illnesses annually and 353 fewer deaths, he says.

Linda Greene, testing director for Food & Sensory Sciences at the Yonkers, N.Y.-based Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, summarizes what you need to know about this process.

What does irradiating meat do?

Bombarding meat with high-frequency energy inactivates the DNA of any illness-causing microorganisms that may be present. As a result, they can't reproduce and make you sick.

Does the meat become radioactive?

No, it does not.

To be safe, do I need to buy irradiated meat?

Choosing irradiated meat reduces but does not eliminate the risk of food-borne illness. In fact, cooking meat properly destroys more bacteria than irradiation does.

Does irradiated meat taste different?

When presented with pairs of food, our trained tasters were able to detect the irradiated beef or chicken 66 of 72 times because it had a very slight "off" taste. But the average consumer may not notice the difference.

Is it more expensive than regular meat?

Not necessarily. We found that prices varied.

For the complete report, visit ConsumerReports.org and search for "irradiated meat."--K.D.