Every year, roughly two million Canadians suffer from illnesses caused by food-borne bacteria. About 30 of them die.
Sometimes a single incident of food contamination can create catastrophic results and spread fear about the safety of the food supply, as when 20 people died after eating listeria-contaminated meat from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in 2008.
Some say a technology that has been around since the early 1900s could address the problem but has yet to gain a foothold in the Canadian food supply chain.
Food irradiation is a method to preserve food by exposing it to low-level radiation energy.
It’s an idea that raises strong feelings on both sides.
There is strong support from a myriad health organizations, scientists and many commodity groups that say it’s safe and effective. There’s also passionate opposition from those who question irradiation’s safety and warn of unknown long-term dangers from eating irradiated food.
In this special report, Adrian Ewins sheds light on food irradiation.
