Editorial: IRRADIATION NO SUBSTITUTE FOR SAFETY St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 15, 2003 EACH year, 76 million Americans are sickened by the food they eat. About 325,000 are hospitalized. Another 5,200 die. Yet many people are more frightened by the theoretical risks of irradiated food than by the well-documented pathogens that cause food-borne illness. Beginning this week, consumers in St. Louis will be able to buy irradiated meat at one of the region's largest supermarket chains, Schnucks. Other irradiated foods, especially spices, have been sold for years. The treated meat will sell for about 10 to 20 cents more per pound. It will be labeled with a distinctive logo, so that shoppers who are squeamish about buying food treated with radiation can avoid it. But irradiation is no substitute for improved inspections and cleaner processing plants. Two of the nation's three largest meat recalls have occurred since July. Both occurred long after the recalled meat had been eaten by consumers. No matter how many serious sanitation violations are uncovered by food inspectors at processing plants, recalls never occur until it can be shown that tainted meat has reached the public. In a Listeria outbreak at a Pennsylvania poultry plant last year, that evidence was the first of what would eventually lead to seven deaths. Three women also had miscarriages. The current system, in which industry largely polices itself, isn't working. Food safety is a public health issue. It should be handled by a public health agency, not the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which also is responsible for promoting agriculture. The federal government should have the power to order recalls, and should be able to act before people get sick. After the Pennsylvania case, and a recall earlier in 2002 by ConAgra Beef in Colorado, members of Congress called for tougher regulations. The Bush administration also promised changes. Nothing much has happened. Some consumers, and a handful of public interest groups, opposed the sale of irradiated meat. They argued that it wasn't safe. Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization disagree. Ultimately, consumers may decide that 10 or 20 cents per pound isn't too much to pay for the luxury of added safety that irradiation can provide. But none of us should be satisfied without improved inspections and cleaner processing plants to keep our food safe.