Food Irradiation Should Be Banned

What is Food Irradiation?
Food irradiation is a process used to destroy microorganism that cause food spoilage. In a way, the food is sterilized. During the process of irradiation food is exposed to ionizing radiation. The radiation energy breaks chemical bonds, it specifically breaks down the DNA of the bacteria, making it impossible for the bacteria to live and allowing  for the food to remain unchanged.

During this process, ionizing radiation is able to remove electrons from an orbit of an atom, causing the atom to become charged.

How does Irradiation Affect Foods?
Irradiation produces chemical changes in the food but these changes are not harmful to us. The food also does not change in nutritional value, according to some sources. However, according to Dr. Decuypere, the food does loose some nutritional value. Specifically, irradiation destroys essential vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A, thiamine, folic acid, and vitamin K. It also kills friendly bacteria and enzymes.
The food get warmer during the process and it might have a slightly different taste, just like pasteurized milk has a different taste than unpasteurized milk. If such is the case, isn't this changing the properties of the food? Irradiation is mainly used to prolong the shelf-life of products and has not been proven to cause side affects in animals or people.