We told you yesterday that food irradiation involved exposing meat to “a tiny dose of gamma rays from electronic or radioactive sources.” A more accurate description would have called the doses “substantial, but brief.” Our point, though, remains unchanged: after three years of study, the FDA has concluded that irradiation does not make meat radioactive, nor does it noticeably change its taste, texture or appearance. In fact, the approved radiation levels for red meat are a fraction of those used since 1963 to disinfect spices and dry vegetable seasonings.
