Topic: What Einstein told his Cook: Kitchen Science explained

[Belgarath]

This book is awesome.  A little snippet on food irradiation:

Is food irradiation safe? Are airplanes safe? Are flu shots safe? Is margarine safe? Is living safe? Of course not, it invariably ends in death. I don't mean to belittle the question, but safe is probably the most USELESS word in the English language. It is so loaded with context, connotations, interpretations and implications that it loses all meaning, and of course a meaningless word belies the very purpose of language. Any scientist will tell you that proving a negative is virtually impossible. Predicting the next time is prophecy, not science.

When you come right down to it, science deals in probabilities, so let me rephrase the question:

What are the chances that consuming irradiated food will somehow produce deleterious effects?

Does irradiated food cause cancer or genetic damage? It has never happened.
Does irradiated food become radioactive? No.
Does irradiation change the chemical composition of whatever is irradiated? Of course it does, that's why it works.

Here are a couple of common objections to food irradiation:

Food irradiation uses the equivalent radiation of 1 billion chest X-rays, which is enough radiation to kill a person 6,000 times over!

How is that relevant, I ask?  Food irradiation is used on... FOODS, not people.  In a steel mill, the molten steel is approximately 3000 degrees F.  Workers in steel mills and food irradiation plants are therefore advised to NOT bathe in vats of molten steel or take naps on the food irradiation conveyor belts. 

With EACH BITE of irradiated food, we receive indirect exposure to ionizing radiation!

There is absolutely no radiation in radiated food either direct or indirect.  With each piece of steel we touch, do we receive indirect exposure to 3000 degree temperature?

This guy is awesome.

[daemonowner]

Nice.

[arthwollipot]

I totally misread the title of this thread. 

[DeanMorrison]

I totally misread the title of this thread. 

I'm sure there's a few chapters on poultry.

[341gerbig]

There is a second addition

[Calinthalus]

I have the same authors book "What Einstein told his Barber".  I haven't read it yet...it kept falling down my queue since I'm not sure I'll like it or not.  With your recommendation of his other work, I might bump it higher.

[Skeptress]

I read this a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

[stonesean]

safe is probably the most USELESS word in the English language. It is so loaded with context, connotations, interpretations and implications that it loses all meaning

Love it.