just thought you all would want to know a little bit about food irradiation

Food irradiation[1] is the process of exposing food to ionizing radiation to destroy microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, or insects that might be present in the food. Further applications include sprout inhibition, delay of ripening, increase of juice yield, and improvement of re-hydration. Irradiation is a more general term of deliberate exposure of materials to radiation to achieve a technical goal (in this context 'ionizing radiation' is implied). As such it is also used on non-food items, such as medical hardware, plastics, tubes for gas-pipelines, hoses for floor-heating, shrink-foils for food packaging, automobile parts, wires and cables (isolation), tires, and even gemstones. Compared to the amount of food irradiated, the volume of those every-day applications is huge but not noticed by the consumer.

The genuine effect of processing food by ionizing radiation involves damage to DNA, the basic genetic information for life. Microorganisms can no longer proliferate and continue their malignant or pathogenic activities. Spoilage-causing micro-organisms cannot continue their activities. Insects do not survive, or become incapable of proliferation. Plants cannot continue the natural ripening or aging process.[1]

The speciality of processing food by ionizing radiation is that the energy density per atomic transition is very high; it can cleave molecules and induce ionization (hence the name), which is not achieved by mere heating. This is the reason for both new effects and new concerns. The treatment of solid food by ionizing radiation can provide an effect similar to heat pasteurization of liquids, such as milk. However, the use of the term "cold pasteurization" to describe irradiated foods is controversial, since pasteurization and irradiation are fundamentally different processes.

Food irradiation is currently permitted by over 40 countries, and the volume of food so treated is estimated to exceed 500,000 metric tons annually world wide.

Here's a link to more info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation