Irradiation mandated (just kidding)

William Marler forwarded this blog post from a site called efoodalert.com. From the post:

Washington, DC. August 28, 2033– The Secretary of State for Food Safety announced today that – effective January 1, 2034 – all food shipped interstate for retail sale must be sterilized by irradiation. The Secretary urged food regulators in all fifty states to follow suit.

When asked whether this new mandate would also apply to imported foods, Secretary Jenna Bush replied, "You betcha!"

Later......

Slaughterhouse operators and meat packers welcomed the announcement. "It's great news," said the CEO of Universal Beef, "we'll finally get away from all the expensive and burdensome HACCP/SSOP regulations that were imposed on us by the government a generation ago." Spokespeople for the produce and poultry industry associations were equally effusive.

Not everyone, though, welcomed the announcement. Small-scale farmers, livestock operators and food processors expressed concern about the cost of implementing this new mandate. And "natural food" activists were fighting mad. "This is disgusting," said one woman who asked not to be identified, "Irradiation will destroy the nutrients in our food. We've polluted our water and soil, and we should clean it up. What kind of a world are we leaving our children?"

We contacted Phyllis Entis, the now-retired founder of eFoodAlert and author of the classic text Food Safety: Old Habits, New Perspectives, for her reaction to the announcement. "I saw this coming 25 years ago," said Ms. Entis. "I predicted in 2008 that we were on a slippery slope to mandatory food irradiation."


TK: Check out the full post for the complete mock news release. Unlike Phyllis - author of the post - I don't see the "danger" that our whole food supply - particularly produce - will face a slippery slope of irradiation mandates. Yet her scenario is at least plausible, and that's saying something.