The safety of our foods and our environment is one of the most important issues we face on a daily basis. With the increasing needs for greater volume food production and the concurrent needs for pest and disease-prevention, chemicals have long been the first choice in helping make food safe for us to eat. However, chemicals and pesticides can have an adverse effect upon the consumer and, as such, have received a significant amount of negative press (which in part has helped the organic foods industry). One non-chemical alternative to helping make foods disease and pest free is irradiation. Irradiation provides us with a very viable alternative in that it uses none of the harmful chemical agents traditionally used to clean and keep foods (particularly produce) pest free. Irradiation has the ability to kill pests and disease throughout the entire food, rather than just on the surface as with chemical treatments. While there are detractors of irradiation who fear that the treatment may have as yet unknown side effects, this, I believe, is a case in which the benefits outweigh the fears of possible problems with a technology that has been in use for more than thirty years. It is the purpose of this paper to present a strong argument for the use of irradiation in food treatment.
