From ‘U.S., Duck!’ to U.S. Chicken

The first batch of chickens to be processed at the nation’s first commercial food irradiation plant may be headed to Iraq.

Plant City-based Vindicator Inc. is planning to begin the first irradiation of chickens in about 10 days. President Sam Whitney said a Maryland firm is negotiating to ship them to Iraq.

Last month, the federal government gave the go-ahead for poultry to be treated with low doses of cobalt-60. The radiation kills bacteria such as salmonella, which can cause food poisoning, thereby prolonging shelf life.

U.S. Harvest Technologies of Baltimore is negotiating with Vindicator to ship up to 25,000 tons of irradiated chicken to Iraq, with the permission of the United Nations. The United Nations has supervised an embargo of that nation since the end of the Persian Gulf War 21 months ago but allows shipments of food.

Proponents say hundreds of studies show irradiation is safe. Opponents argue that the molecular structure of irradiated food changes and that more studies are needed before the long-term effects of the cobalt-60 are known.