The Invisible Danger: Why You Should Care About Food Irradiation

In a world where food safety and shelf life are increasingly prioritised over nutrient integrity, there’s a quiet industrial practice that rarely gets talked about — and almost never appears on product labels: irradiation.

Used on everything from herbs and spices to grains and dried fruits, irradiation may sound high-tech and reassuring. It uses gamma rays, electron beams, or X-rays to kill bacteria, delay ripening, and extend shelf life.

But while it’s effective in neutralising microbes, it comes at a cost. And it’s a cost we’re not willing to pass on to our customers.

Irradiation may reduce microbial contamination, but it also changes the food in ways that can’t be undone.

• Nutrient Loss: Key vitamins like A, B1, C and E are degraded or destroyed by radiation.
• Structural Damage: Radiation alters enzymes and antioxidants, reducing the food’s natural healing power.
• Radiolytic Byproducts: These are new chemical compounds formed during irradiation — not all of them fully studied, and none of them naturally occurring.
• Lack of Transparency: In many countries, irradiated ingredients don’t require prominent labelling — especially when used as part of a blend. Consumers are often unaware their “natural” food has been exposed to radiation.

For a treatment designed to make food safer, that’s a lot of compromise.

Rather than sterilising our ingredients, we preserve them — gently and respectfully.

Freeze drying is a low-temperature, vacuum-based method that removes moisture from food without the use of heat or radiation. It’s used in high-performance fields like space nutrition and clinical research — and it’s perfect for superfoods and medicinal plants.

Here’s what makes freeze drying better:

• Up to 90–95% nutrient retention, including fragile vitamins and enzymes
• No chemical exposure, no preservatives, no radiation
• Preserves the full integrity of the plant — colour, aroma, flavour, and potency
• Stops bacterial growth naturally by removing moisture (without killing the food itself)

We also test every batch for microbial safety post-freeze-drying. It’s a more rigorous, more expensive process — but it's the only one we trust with your health.

You might be surprised to learn that certified organic standards globally prohibit irradiation — entirely.

In Australia (under ACO), the US (USDA Organic), the EU, and many other regions, if a product is certified organic, it cannot be irradiated at any stage — not during growth, storage, processing, or packaging.

That’s why choosing certified organic isn’t just about avoiding pesticides — it’s also a safeguard against hidden industrial processing.

So when we say our ingredients are freeze dried and sourced from organic-certified or organic-compliant farms, it’s not just about farming. It’s about trust, integrity, and the right to know what’s in your food — and what’s been done to it.