Irradiation: now more than ever

I'm putting together a story this week about fresh guava imports from Mexico(Big Apple posted the FR notice on the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group this morning) , and one of the sources for the story is director of a company that is building a Mexican irradiation facility that should open around April of 2009. I'll leave details and quotes for the story, but the gist is that irradiation will finally arrive in a big way next year. Fresh guavas, mangoes, even Mexican citrus could be heading to the U.S. after irradiation treatment for phytosanitary purposes in the not too distant future. In fact, another already operating irradiation facility in Mexico City will be ready to send fresh guava to the U.S. in mere weeks, says my source.

The source said that consumer acceptance of irradiation is not a big feature of his business plan. He speculated that the radura symbol may soon no longer be required by the FDA for irradiated food; rule making to that end is already in process, but the timing of the final determination is unknown.

In any case, isn't irradiation superior to methyl bromide fumigation, which releases a fumigant that can damage the ozone layer? He made the point that any concept can be made to sound scary; for example, what consumer would be jazzed about eating fruit that has been treated with methyl bromide? Would you eat fruit washed with dihydrogen monoxide? Heck no.

We have seen relatively small volumes of fresh produce irradiated in the last several years; the 20 million plus Latin heritage population in the U.S. may once and for all speak for all of the market and put the "market acceptance" issue to rest when the coveted guava is shipped from Mexico.