Food irradiation

[Robert Dobson]

At 06:01 PM 25/8/97 -0700, Mark wrote:
>Don't know if you saw the irradiation piece on CBS new tonight, ...
> -CUT-  opposed to this wonderfully effective and safe method of
sterilizing food
-CUT-
>"irradiation introduces chemicals and mutations into the food" - 
>Mark Armitage
>
Living in OZ we don't get CBS, however,  I don't believe irradiation is
innocuous:

We develop nematode eggs on agar (in wells of a microtitre plate) for in
vitro drug sensitivity testing.  It is important to start with sterile wells
before adding the worm eggs as an overgrowth of bacteria or fungi can stop
normal larval development. This is usually achieved by adopting sterile
techniques when making the plate.

We have tested irradiation as a method of sterilizing the plate (at the same
dose used on strawberries).  Unfortunately when we add the eggs after this
procedure they fail to hatch (100%).  The irradiation does produce something
very toxic to worm eggs.
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