May 26, 2006

Peaches that taste like nail polish remover

You know when you’re taking a shower and you get a funny taste on your tongue, and realise it’s your shampoo, but you didn’t get any in your mouth? Well my receptors got a little criss-crossed when I tasted a peach and knew that if nail polish remover were a drink, that this peach would taste like that. Needless to say I threw it out. What a waste. Mom asked if it was from California. I wasn’t sure. She told me it was the chemicals they use to make it ripen faster. I figured it must be irradiation, and that bothered me.

From Wikipedia’s page on food irradiation:

“Under certain circumstances some research suggests that irradiation forms new chemicals in food, some of which are uniquely radiolytic products. However, the levels of these compounds produced in irradiated foods have been deemed too low to present a meaningful risk to consumers. At very high doses, e.g. >6 kilogray, irradiation can reduce the vitamins and other essential nutrients; and negatively impact the flavor, odor and texture of food. At the doses typically used in irradiation treatment of food, e.g. <3.5 kilogray, these changes appear minimal." Save a penny a day, you have $1 in 100 days. What about this?