Posted on: Friday, July 11, 2003
Islands' 1st irradiated potatoes shipped
| • | Processing foods with X-rays |
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i's first shipment of irradiated sweet potatoes left the Big Island yesterday bound for California.
The shipment was made possible under new U.S. Department of Agriculture rules that took effect this month allowing the produce to be irradiated as an alternative to fumigation.
The treatments are required to destroy insects before the sweet potatoes are shipped to other states. Big Island growers expect the rules change to reduce their costs and speed exports of sweet potatoes.
Previously, growers on the Big Island, where there is no fumigation of sweet potatoes, had to ship their product to Honolulu. There the produce would undergo fumigation to prevent the spread of weevils and vine bores.
The trip sometimes tacked on an additional three to four days before export, said Lyle Wong, head of the state Department of Agriculture's plant industry division. The delay, coupled with other fumigation costs, made it difficult to sell Hawai'i sweet potatoes to certain markets, he said.
Irradiation "gives the shippers the flexibility to meet specific market demands," Wong said.
Gov. Linda Lingle's administration, which discussed the issue with the USDA earlier this year, said it hopes the change will help increase out-of-state sales of local sweet potatoes.
In 2001, the most recent year for which data is available, farm-level sales of sweet potatoes fell 40 percent to $900,000. Most of that crop is consumed in-state, according to the state.
Sweet potatoes are grown mainly on the Big Island, Maui and Moloka'i. However, the Big Island is the only market where fumigation is not an option, Wong said. The irradiated sweet potatoes will still need to meet other criteria, including inspection and packaging requirements.
Irradiation is commonly used to treat Hawai'i fruits and vegetables such as bell peppers, lychee, mangoes, papaya, pineapple and tomatoes before they are exported.
Fear of possible crop damage from imported fruit flies, fungus and other pests had kept many Hawai'i fruit off Mainland supermarket shelves until irradiation was approved.
The shipment that left Hawai'i yesterday for California was irradiated at Hawaii Pride LLC in Kea'au.
Eric Weinert, vice president for Hawaii Pride, said while some people remained concerned about irradiated foods, fumigation chemicals such as methyl bromide, which is used on sweet potatoes, create environmental concerns.
"The government is trying to phase out the use of methyl bromide to prevent damage to the ozone layer" of the atmosphere, he said.
