The use of ionizing radiation will not only eliminate pathogens but also extend shelf life, the FDA said on it website. Under the FDA rule, which takes effect Friday, the packages of irradiated lettuce and spinach, like other irradiated food products, will have to bear the radura logo and one of two statements: "treated with radiation" or "treated by irradiation."
In the United States, the process of radiation is already carried out on meat, poultry, molluscan shellfish, and dried spices. The FDA action does not include other varieties of lettuce.
The food products are exposed to a maximum absorbed dose of 4.0 kGy [kiloGray], which is effective in reducing microbial pathogens associated with it.
In 2006, fresh bagged spinach grown in California was blamed for an E. coli outbreak that involved 204 cases and three deaths. Later that year, shredded lettuce from Taco John's restaurants was implicated in two E. coli outbreaks, one in Minnesota and Iowa and the other in several northeastern states.
