Food irradiation push faces court challenge

Robin Taubenfeld

In the 1980s, an international consumer campaign played a vital role in raising awareness about food irradiation. Worldwide, workers, environmentalists and consumers joined together to make wide-scale food irradiation an unpalatable business prospect. The nuclear industry seemed to back off. In Australia, a ten-year moratorium was placed on food irradiation in 1998. Irradiation virtually disappeared from the public eye.

In actual fact, the irradiation industry continued to expand, irradiating non-food products − such as packaging, bee hives, herbs, pharmaceuticals, medical products, pet food, therapeutic goods, wine corks, cosmetics, cereals and grains fed to meat animals. When the moratorium on food irradiation in Australia was lifted, the nuclear irradiation industry was already well entrenched.

Australia now has three nuclear irradiation plants − located on the outskirts of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Despite ongoing opposition, herbs, spices, herbal infusions and nine tropical fruits − including mangoes, paw paws, lychees and custard apples − have been approved for irradiation.

A further application by the Queensland Government for the irradiation of persimmons is pending the outcome of a federal court challenge. A further 18 approvals for the irradiation of tropical fruits and vegetables are on the cards. Irradiation is also being promoted by Food Standards Australia NZ (FSANZ) as the preferred alternative to the highly toxic pesticides Dimethoate and Fenthion which must soon be phased out as the post-harvest treatment for tropical fruit fly.

Irradiation is the process of exposing food or other products to ionising radiation, generally to extend shelf-life, for bacterial decontamination or for insect control. In Australia, gamma radiation from cobalt-60 produced in Canadian nuclear power reactors is used. Like other faces of the nuclear industry, the irradiation industry and approval process is fraught with scandal, dirty tactics and spin.

In 2008/09, up to 100 Australian cats developed neurological disorders linked to their consumption of irradiated cat food. Irradiated cat food is now banned in Australia. But since then, Australian governments have amended trade rules to support the interstate movement of irradiated foods.

In 2010, the Queensland Department of Primary Industries lodged an application for the irradiation of persimmons, claiming irradiation was the only cost-effective treatment for fruit fly disinfestation to enhance the persimmon export trade. The Department's claims were flawed and FSANZ's processing of the application was also highly irregular.

There are numerous alternatives to irradiation for fruit fly management, including both chemical and non-chemical treatments and, to date, none of Australia's trading partners require persimmons to be irradiated. Furthermore, the consumption of irradiated foods has not been proven safe. There are no long-term scientific studies of the impacts of an irradiated diet on human health. Given the recent Australian experience with cats, the precautionary principle should apply.

Without due notice to the public, as the Food Act requires, FSANZ included a general review and extensive amendment of Food Standard 1.5.3 Irradiation in the Queensland application, especially on the labelling of irradiated food and irradiation record-keeping. The public was neither clearly notified of the additional content, nor was the working title of the application changed to reflect the additions. The proposed changes were not even included in the published Risk Assessment. Despite this lack of transparency, the Food Standards Ministerial Council approved the application.

Concerned about the lack of due process, Gene Ethics and the Australian Safe Food Institute challenged the application in the Federal Court. The matter was heard in November 2011 and the court has yet to hand down its ruling. Meanwhile, there is an injunction on the irradiation of persimmons and the proposed general amendments to the standard.

No matter what the outcome of the court case, persimmons are just the "thin edge of the wedge" of a renewed push to irradiate food in Australia. Food Irradiation Watch is currently re-writing the Irradiation-Free Food Guide and will be coordinating action on labelling and the expected irradiation applications. Join us! Together we can keep irradiated food off our tables.

Robin Taubenfeld is a member of Friends of the Earth, Brisbane.

More information: www.foodirradiationwatch.org