Food & Water Watch
Why Oppose Irradiated Food in Schools?
- Irradiated food has not been proven safe to eat. A chemical in some irradiated foods, 2-ACBs, may promote cancer development and cause genetic damage. Moreover, there is an appalling lack of research into the long-term health effects experienced by children who are exposed to toxic chemicals in foods.
- Children are more susceptible to toxic substances in their environment. They eat, drink and breathe three times as much as adults, pound for pound.
- Irradiating food may mask serious safety problems in the slaughterhouse that should be dealt with as the root problem.
- Research has found that the irradiation process destroys up to 95 percent of the vitamin content in food, such as vitamins A, B complex, C and E. This is in addition to nutrient loss that occurs during storage and cooking.
- Under current regulations, irradiated food served in schools does not have to be labeled. Parents, teachers, and children deserve the right-to-know what foods are being served in school lunches so they can make informed choices.
- This process is economically discriminatory. Low-income schoolchildren are the most likely to consume a high percentage of their daily food intake from the federal nutrition programs (breakfast, lunch, and snack). These families do not have the luxury of sending their kids to school with homemade lunches to avoid irradiated food.
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