For Release: June 10, 2008

"The U.S. is rushing toward food irradiation as a panacea for preventing food poisoning. Recent outbreaks of E. coli bacteria in lettuce, spinach, and onions have reinvigorated interest in irradiation as a way to prevent foodborne illness.  At the same time, as this book goes to press, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering a new rule that would weaken labeling of irradiated food and prevent consumers from knowing that their food has been exposed to large doses of radiation."

- Excerpt from the preface of Zapped!

Author Wenonah Hauter
Wenonah Hauter is the executive director of Food & Water Watch. She has worked extensively on energy, food, water and environmental issues at the national, state and local level. Request an interview with Ms. Hauter here.

This past August, FDA approved the sale of irradiated lettuce and spinach. But food experts have pointed out that irradiation reduces the nutritional content of greens (and may even render them inedible mush), and is not the answer to our food safety worries. In fact, irradiation does not kill all potentially harmful bacteria, but allows the food industry to appear as though it is solving the very problems that industrial food production has created.

Irradiation of food is simply lip service to food safety—expensive and dangerous lip service. We can’t afford to simply mask our broken food safety system—especially with a technology that may carry far more serious consequences.

In Zapped! Irradiation and the Death of Food, policy expert Wenonah Hauter tackles a decades-long public relations ruse by the food industry. Hauter and her co-author Mark Worth expose irradiation, long touted as the solution to the growing problem of foodborne illnesses and contamination, as a dangerous practice with too little research to back it up. Packed with resources for the activist as well as nuts-and-bolts facts about irradiation, Zapped! sheds light on the human health, food safety, and economic consequences of irradiating our food.

Hauter’s book makes clear the science and politics behind the food irradiation industry. In today’s climate of increasing corporate control of our food supply, we need to stay informed about what food technologies are being used, and their real effects. Zapped! is both timely and passionately written, a compelling read for Americans who need to know the truth about our food.  

Zapped! is a call to action for everyone who eats.

Praise for Zapped!

"Zapped! seeks to overcome the massive misinformation campaign designed to generate confusion among consumers.  Hauter and Worth desire an honest public debate about reforming a broken food production and marketing system.  The problems are too urgent and important to leave to government bureaucrats and corporate executives to fix.  Solutions that work depend on a vibrant, function democracy – and the heart of our democracy is you."

          – Jim Hightower, former Texas agriculture commissioner, best-selling author of Thieves in High Places

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