NZ firm backing bid to zap food New Zealand Herald 23.02.2002 By JAMES GARDINER Auckland company Turners & Growers has joined the United States firm pushing to bring irradiated food into New Zealand and Australia. Turners & Growers of Mt Wellington, a century old and the largest importer of fruit and vegetables in Australasia, is the majority shareholder in a joint company with SureBeam Corporation of San Diego, and is looking for other backers. They want to build a $10 million irradiation plant in Queensland this year and, if they can win over the public and politicians, seek approval to build a plant in New Zealand. No irradiated foods have yet been sold in either country but the intergovernmental food authority Anzfa lifted a total ban in 1999, cleared the way for irradiated herbs and spices a year later, and is considering an application from SureBeam to irradiate Queensland tropical fruit as a pest-control measure. The Green Party and environmentalists Friends of the Earth are worried about the health implications of irradiating foods. Proponents and opponents agree that, if successful, the Queensland application will help clear the way for both countries to import and export irradiated food. Environmentalists have battled for 16 years to stop an irradiation plant being built in New Zealand. Long-time opponent Bob Tait, of Friends of the Earth, conceded that the SureBeam method of using electron beams and x-rays, powered by electricity, had advantages over the traditional gamma rays produced from a radioactive material such as cobalt. "There's no risk of leakage at the facility or a transport accident, but it will have the same effect on food as a gamma ray." Green Party food and health spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said irradiation by any method changed the molecular structure of food, creating unique chemicals, and the long-term effects on human health had not been adequately researched. "It's a controversial technology with serious question-marks surrounding it. If we can get these fruits from other places, do we really need it?" Turners & Growers' involvement was revealed this month in a press release circulated only in the United States. Managing director Don Turner said his company had followed the irradiation debate and had satisfied itself there was no risk to human health. "In 25 years no problem has ever been detected." SureBeam's technology now made irradiation cost-effective provided consumer resistance could be overcome. Turners & Growers would hope to import several million dollars worth of irradiated Queensland fruit a year, mainly mangos, which were high-quality and likely to be competitively priced, he said. If successful, the next step would be to irradiate New Zealand apples and kiwifruit for export. SureBeam spokesman Michael Daysh said fruitgrowers could have wider access to the United States, where similar applications had been lodged, and Japan. If SureBeam and Turners can convince Anzfa that irradiated food is safe to eat and that the technology is necessary, they then must persuade the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry that the treatment will be effective in destroying fruit fly. The will be done through the Australian Government. One of the 280 species of fruit fly found in Australia can survive heat treatment up to temperatures that would spoil the fruit, and alternative chemical fumigants are either ozone-depleting or present a cancer risk. A study of New Zealanders' and Australians' perceptions of irradiation, done last year by HortResearch in Auckland, found they had little knowledge of the technology, were suspicious and thought it would be dangerous. They did not trust one-sided material and doubted information from overseas sources such as the American Medical Association or the Food and Drug Administration. Mr Daysh said a public education programme would be needed.