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# FDA: ‘Nuking Fruits & Veggies Will Make Them Safer.’ Huh?
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/nuking_fruits_vegetables_0118131105/
- Published: 2013-01-19T00:04:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:09:43.000Z
- Description: An action alert opposing an FDA rule proposed under the Food Safety Modernization Act that would require raw produce growers to file a formal food-safety plan unless they irradiate. The writers argue irradiation destroys nutrients and produces carcinogens such as benzene and formaldehyde.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Politics, #vivvo-import

## By Organic Consumers Association

[**TAKE ACTION: Tell the FDA: Don’t irradiate my veggies!**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=J78dY2SwgFwcYrSXR%2FRSR0vUijaHN7ti&ref=foodconsumer.org)

Under pretense of keeping us “safe,” the FDA now suggests we’d all be better off eating irradiated raw vegetables and fruits. Huh?

In a new rule proposed under the misguided 2010 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the FDA says it wants to require producers of food to be sold in the U.S. to develop a “formal plan” for preventing their products from causing foodborne illness. Processed foods and raw meat are exempted from the rule, but purveyors of raw fruits and vegetables will be required to comply – unless they irradiate their products.

Given the difficulties of navigating the new FDA regs for a “formal plan,” what are the chances food producers will choose the easy way out, and simply irradiate their products rather than deal with the FDA’s mountains of bureaucratic paperwork?

Never mind that nuking food destroys vitamins, essential fatty acids and other nutrients. Or that it produces carcinogens, such as benzene and formaldehyde, as well as radiolytic compounds that humans have never eaten before. Never mind that there are no federal standards for safe levels of radiation in sterilized food. Never mind that the FDA has never offered any concrete proof that irradiation is safe. On the contrary, there is a large body of evidence that says irradiated foods are dangerous. We know that animals fed irradiated food have developed tumors and suffered reproductive damage and kidney failure.

And how is it that the FDA requires labels on irradiated foods, which it claims are perfectly safe, but rejects the notion of labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which it also claims are safe? Where’s the consistency?

[**TAKE ACTION: Tell the FDA: Don’t irradiate my veggies!**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1nM%2BcVnTlodRwEZ3eizlLkvUijaHN7ti&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Learn more**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1IkKdz4J8uAYO1GgXeYTDQe5hiTMdGQ3&ref=foodconsumer.org)