
The 9,000-Mile Sea Journey of an Irradiated Indian Mango - Thevet
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-9000mile-sea-journey-of-an-irradiated-indian-mango
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Saad_M
Irradiation is just one option. Pakistani mangoes are treated by using hot
water treatment plants prior to export: [http://www.dawn.com/news/229074/hot-
water-treatment-of-mango...](http://www.dawn.com/news/229074/hot-water-
treatment-of-mango-fruits)

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rusanu
The article says the smae about Indian mangoes destined for EU:

> The European Union lifted its own ban on Indian mangos this summer, but does
> not approve of irradiation treatment. Mangos destined for Europe are instead
> submerged in water at 48 degrees Celsius.

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jimmywanger
I hate articles like this.

Why is irradiation an intrinsically bad thing?

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macandcheese
"At the facilities, exposure to radiant energy such as gamma rays renders any
bugs unable to reproduce on the long journey to the U.S. Insects are in
effect, sterilized, which does not actually kill the bug living inside the
mango at the time. The energy waves directly attack the molecular structure
that form the pest’s DNA. (The European Union lifted its own ban on Indian
mangos this summer, but does not approve of irradiation treatment. Mangos
destined for Europe are instead submerged in water at 48 degrees Celsius.)"

It doesn't sound like an intrinsically good thing for humans to be consuming
food processed this way either...

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semi-extrinsic
FWIW, Norway irradiates almost all of its imported spices, and has been doing
so since 1982. It's done using gamma rays. The technique is actually
recommended by the WHO and the UN's FAO. Wikipedia says

"a large amount of independent research has confirmed irradiation to be safe
[5][6][7][8][9]"

and also contains the gem

"Irradiated food does not become radioactive, just as an object exposed to
light does not start producing light."

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation)

