FDA proposes to allow irradiated foods labeled as 'pasteurized'

The U.S. government's Food and Drug Administration today announced it may relax its rules on labeling of irradiated foods and suggested it may allow some irradiated products to be called "pasteurized."

In our post-1984 world, words mean little anymore.

Pasteurization is a method of treating foods with high heat to kill microbes, then cooling it rapidly. It has long been used on milk.

The proposed FDA rule would also allow food processing companies to tell consumers via labels that foods have been irradiated at all only when radiation treatment causes a material change to the product, such as changes to the taste, texture, smell or shelf life of a food.

The consumer group Food & Water Watch immediately urged the FDA to drop the idea.

"This move by FDA would deny consumers clear information about whether they are buying food that has been exposed to high doses of ionizing radiation," Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the group, said in a statement.

Source: CNN Health

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