NGO bucks DA plan to put up comm’l food irradiation facility

The Integrated Rural Development Foundation of the Philippines (IRDF), a non-government organization urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to reconsider plans to put up the country’s first commercial food irradiation facility in the wake of strong lobbies being waged by US consumer groups against consumption of irradiated food products.

The DA’s project development studies (PDS) is currently studying the viability of setting up an expensive food irradiation facility to boost the country’s exports of tropical fruits such as mangoes, and meet the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) sanitary and pythosanitary measures.

The DA recently asked the US to allow the exports of mangoes grown outside Guimaras Island in the Visayas, which has been quarantined and declared free of mango pulp weevil pests by the USDA. The USDA however, said the country has to replace its current method of treating mangoes and replace this with irradiation.

Jerome Ignacio, IRDF spokesperson noted that consumer groups in the US are now actively campaigning against consumption of irradiated food because of several studies showing that it is unhealthy and harmful.

"We maybe investing on expensive US-sponsored technology that may not be actually necessary and with no sure market for its output," he said.

Food irradiation is the exposure of food to ionizing radiation intended to eliminate pests and bacteria. The US wanted mangos in the Philippines to be irradiated before being allowed entry to the US in order to remove pulp weevil pests usually found in tropical areas.

DA officials said the department is still determining the need for the food irradiation facility.

Aleli G. Maghirang of the PDS said DA will initially conduct a nationwide survey that will first determine and document the presence of pulp weevil in mango.

No study has been conducted to date and the USDA based their report on possible pulp weevil infestation on a survey in the island province of Palawan which was isolated from major mango-producing areas in the country.

The PDS told the USDA it will need three years to determine if putting up the facility is economically viable. The PDS is in-charge of packaging proposals and mobilizing official development aid for agriculture projects in the country.

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. however, wants to speed up the country’s application for a US grant to set-up the irradiation facility.

The USDA has required the use of food irradiation as a sanitary and phytosanitary measure before it allows fresh mango imports from the different provinces of the Philippines.

Currently, the Philippines uses the vapor heat treatment (VHT) to treat mangoes for exports to major markets such as Japan, and in small quantities to the US.

The US promotes food irradiation under the Food for Peace program which aims to develop civilian application of nuclear technology. US-based companies GrayStar and Surebeam were among those proposing to build the first commercial food irradiation facility in the Philippines.

DA estimates cost of a commercial-scale food irradiation facility to range between $3 million to $5 million.

The country’s major mango planters and exporters have been lobbying the USDA to allow the former to export fresh mango to the US, which is currently the biggest mango market in the world.

A private entity, the Visayas Chamber of Mango Industry Multi-Purpose Cooperative, reportedly submitted to the USDA a project proposal for the setting up of a food irradiation facility in Cebu. The proposed facility will irradiate fresh mango from the Visayas and Mindanao for export to the US.

Public Citizen, a US-based consumer group, and IRDF have been advocating against food irradiation saying that some studies have shown that consumption of irradiated food can cause immature growth of tumors and other illnesses.