Pollan's prescience on irradiated spinach

Michael Pollan knew this would happen. Back in Oct. 2006, in the aftermath of that E.Coli in bagged spinach issue, the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" wrote this for NY Times Magazine:

I received a rather coldblooded e-mail message from a friend in the food business. "I have instructed my broker to purchase a million shares of RadSafe," he wrote, explaining that RadSafe is a leading manufacturer of food-irradiation technology. It turned out my friend was joking, but even so, his reasoning was impeccable.....

And today comes this headline from the L.A. Times: USDA scientists say irradiation could be key to food safety:

U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists said irradiation could be key to destroying pathogens in hard-to-reach places inside and on the surface of fruits and vegetables.... Robert Mandrell, research leader at the USDA's Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit in Albany, Calif., said consumers and producers might be more willing to accept irradiation if illnesses linked to leafy greens continued to grow.

Why is it unsurprising that irradiation's getting serious consideration? According to Pollan, it's "Because it's easier to find a technological fix than to address the root cause of such a problem. This has always been the genius of industrial capitalism--to take its failings and turn them into exciting new business opportunities."

The root of the problem, according to Pollan: "Our highly centralized food economy is a dangerously precarious system, vulnerable to accidental--and deliberate--contamination." Yet a move towards irradiating food would further push us towards this centralized food economy:

So what happens to the spinach grower at my farmers' market when the F.D.A. starts demanding a Haccp plan--daily testing of the irrigation water, say, or some newfangled veggie-irradiation technology? When we start requiring that all farms be federally inspected? Heavy burdens of regulation always fall heaviest on the smallest operations and invariably wind up benefiting the biggest players in an industry, the ones who can spread the costs over a larger output of goods. A result is that regulating food safety tends to accelerate the sort of industrialization that made food safety a problem in the first place. We end up putting our faith in RadSafe rather than in Blue Heron Farms--in technologies rather than relationships.

The solution Pollan points to is more local, sustainably grown or raised food. If you're against irradiated spinach, support your local farmers' market!

And relatedly, support strong organic standards. At the moment, produce that's been irradiated can't be certified organic. As more big businesses focused on just the bottom line enter the organic market, it'll require more consumer involvement to keep that and other organic standards in place. Get involved now by signing up for the Organic Consumers Association's free e-newsletter and staying informed.

Photo by Al Seib / Los Angeles Times