Rob Mancini writes:

Food irradiation is the treatment of food with a type of radiation energy known as ionizing radiation used to kill microorganisms. In Canada, irradiation has been used on products such as potatoes, onions, wheat and spices.  Health Canada has now authorized the use of ionizing radiation to treat fresh and frozen raw ground beef and permit the sale of these products in Canada.

A number of concerns regarding the use of irradiation were brought forth to the attention of Health Canada including the formation of hydrogen peroxide and alkylcyclobutanones. Health Canada states that hydrogen peroxide is relatively unstable and any residues that may remain on the meat after irradiation are expected to break down to water and oxygen during post-irradiation storage. Alkylcyclobutanones are products referred to as “Unique Radiolytic Products” (URPs) that are derived from fat when irradiated and therefore their presence is directly related to the fat content of the food. These URPs are found in extremely small quantities in irradiated foods, in the order of parts per billion. The overall weight of evidence indicates that the very low levels of these compounds found in irradiated beef do not pose a risk to human health.

I currently live in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada) and have been asked a number of times what I’m doing here, cause of the ridiculous cold and short summers. Family is everything to me and they all live in Winnipeg. My parents have kindly suggested that if I take away their grandkids, nothing good will come from that scenario. Winnipeg is also home to food microbiologist guru Dr. Rick Holley whom I have had the pleasure of working with in the past on the CFIA modernization project ranking biological hazards with food commodities. Here is Dr. Holley speaking on food irradiation: