Editing Food preservation (section)

=== Irradiation ===
{{Main|Food irradiation}}
Irradiation of food<ref>''Food Irradation – A technique for preserving and improving the safety of food'', WHO, Geneva, 1991</ref> is the exposure of food to [[ionizing radiation]]. Multiple types of ionizing radiation can be used, including [[beta particle]]s (high-energy [[electron]]s) and [[gamma ray]]s (emitted from radioactive sources such as [[cobalt-60]] or [[cesium-137]]). Irradiation can kill bacteria, molds, and insect pests, reduce the ripening and spoiling of fruits, and at higher doses induce sterility. The technology may be compared to [[pasteurization]]; it is sometimes called "cold pasteurization", as the product is not heated. Irradiation may allow lower-quality or contaminated foods to be rendered marketable.

National and international expert bodies have declared food irradiation as "wholesome"; organizations of the [[United Nations]], such as the [[World Health Organization]] and [[Food and Agriculture Organization]], endorse food irradiation.<ref name="JECFI">World Health Organization. Wholesomeness of irradiated food. Geneva, Technical Report Series No. 659, 1981</ref><ref name="JSGHDI">World Health Organization. High-Dose Irradiation: Wholesomeness of Food Irradiated With Doses Above 10 kGy. Report of a Joint FAO/IAEA/WHO Study Group. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 1999. WHO Technical Report Series No. 890</ref> Consumers may have a negative view of irradiated food based on the misconception that such food is radioactive;<ref>Conley, S.T., What do consumers think about irradiated foods, FSIS Food Safety Review (Fall 1992), 11–15</ref> in fact, irradiated food does not and cannot become radioactive. Activists have also opposed food irradiation for other reasons, for example, arguing that irradiation can be used to sterilize contaminated food without resolving the underlying cause of the contamination.<ref>Hauter, W. & Worth, M., ''Zapped! Irradiation and the Death of Food'', Food & Water Watch Press, Washington, DC, 2008</ref> International legislation on whether food may be irradiated or not varies worldwide from no regulation to a full ban.<ref>[http://nucleus.iaea.org/NUCLEUS/nucleus/Content/Applications/FICdb/FoodIrradiationClearances.jsp?module=cif NUCLEUS – Food Irradiation Clearances] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526025627/http://nucleus.iaea.org/NUCLEUS/nucleus/Content/Applications/FICdb/FoodIrradiationClearances.jsp?module=cif |date=26 May 2008 }}</ref>

Approximately 500,000 tons of food items are irradiated per year worldwide in over 40 countries. These are mainly [[spice]]s and [[condiment]]s, with an increasing segment of fresh fruit irradiated for fruit fly quarantine.<ref>[http://www.mindfully.org/Food/Irradiation-Position-ADA.htm Food irradiation – Position of ADA J Am Diet Assoc. 2000;100:246-253] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216174601/http://www.mindfully.org/Food/Irradiation-Position-ADA.htm |date=16 February 2016 }}</ref><ref>C.M. Deeley, M. Gao, R. Hunter, D.A.E. Ehlermann, The development of food irradiation in the Asia Pacific, the Americas and Europe; tutorial presented to the International Meeting on Radiation Processing, Kuala Lumpur, 2006. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170202002120/http://doubleia.org/index.php?sectionid=43&parentid=13&contentid=494]}}</ref>