In order to get rid of dangerous germs that can hide in lettuce and spinach plantsand then make it to your dinner tablethe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow food producers to zap the leaves with low amounts of radiation to kill any traces of E. coli, salmonella or other bacterial germs.
Acting on a request from The Grocery Manufacturers Association to expand irradiation, the FDA said their decision stems from recent salmonella outbreaks involving tomatoes and peppers. They were also responding to the 2006 E. coli contamination cases, which killed three people and sickened more than 200 others.
Irradiation treatment is not new, and is currently used on meats to cut down on contamination. Plans to expand the treatment to other types of produce may be in the near future, according to the August 21 FDA press release.
The FDA statement stresses that irradiation does not replace proper food-handling practices, and that when conducted under approved conditionsirradiation will retain the foods nutrient value, color, flavor and crisp texture. Consumers should continue to wash their produce thoroughly.
What this does is give producers and processors one more tool in the toolbox to make these commodities safer and protect public health, said Laura Tarantino, director of the FDAs Office of Food Additive Safety, in news reports.