Irradiated Foods: Whose Choice? Whose Opportunity? Available to Purchase

The sale of irradiated food is currently prohibited in the United Kingdom under The Food (Control of Irradiation) Regulations 1967. This situation seems likely to change given first the recommendation by a number of expert committees that irradiated food is safe and wholesome,and second the current need to complete the EEC internal market for food in a situation where several member states already permit the sale of irradiated produce. The controversy surrounding the irradiated food issue is, in part, politically inspired. In particular, the issue has served to articulate concern over the lack of consumer representation in food policy decision making forums, both at the UK and European level. Consumer resistance to the technology for the most part, however,reflects an exaggeration of the perceived risks associated with buying and consuming irradiated foods, together with a negative evaluation of the benefits that the process offers. Consumers perceive these benefits as accruing mainly to the food industry. The difficulty that consumers have in believing that they, too, can share in these benefits stems from the way in which consumers make sense of the knowledge that they possess about food. It is this problem which needs to be addressed.