The Food and Drug Administration has allowed spinach and lettuce to be irradiated with strong enough gamma rays to kill all germs, such as E. coli and Salmonella, marking the first time that our government has allowed any food to be irradiated at levels needed to protect against illness.

Dr. Laura Tarantino, director of the Office of Food Additive Safety at the FDA, alleges that there are no significant nutritional or safety changes following exposure to radiation of spinach and lettuce, but critics are skeptical. They claim that ionizing rays could lower nutritional value, create unsafe chemicals and ruin taste.

Exposure to powerful radiation will prolong shelf life, which means that producers are backing the measure. The National Food Processors Association (NFPA) and The Food Irradiation Coalition are lobbying the FDA to expand its approval to other products. Thus, the government is currently evaluating the safety of sterilizing other foods with radiation. Meat, poultry, spices and molluscan shellfish such as oysters, mussels and clams have already been cleared for exposure to gamma rays, which are also used to sterilize medical items such as disposable syringes and surgical gloves.

Critics also said that the FDA is looking for an easy way out the safety problems. The foods that have been exposed to irradiation must carry a special "radura" logo and state the product has been "treated with radiation" or "treated by irradiation."