Irradiation is just one option. Pakistani mangoes are treated by using hot water treatment plants prior to export: http://www.dawn.com/news/229074/hot-water-treatment-of-mango...

The article says the smae about Indian mangoes destined for EU:

> The European Union lifted its own ban on Indian mangos this summer, but does not approve of irradiation treatment. Mangos destined for Europe are instead submerged in water at 48 degrees Celsius.

I hate articles like this.

Why is irradiation an intrinsically bad thing?

Well the article did not seem critical of the irradiation process at all. Maybe the title is a bit click baity ?

It is all about shipping mangoes by sea rather than by air. I'm a bit worried about that though. My local Pakistani mango dealer (no Indian around here, but IMO Honey Mango is a good alternative) was explaining me some rather unappealing process that they were experimenting to slow down the ripening process, like injecting stuff in the mango to make it stronger with a better shelf life.

Also maybe it is because the EU laws are different, but mangoes from Pakistan are not always irradiated, instead they are sprayed with boiling water, which make their skin ripple a bit but otherwise does not seem to affect the flavour too much. Well at least that's how they are in the beginning or end of the season.

edit: other commenters have more accurate info about EU, and Pakistani mangoes.

It's a dog whistle.

They use irradiation and 9000 mile sea journey very close to each other, to create an association.

You don't want to think of your food traveling 9000 miles by boat, and you're also conditioned to think that radiation is a bad scary thing.

This article is definitely click baity. It uses scare terms and word unnecessarily.

"At the facilities, exposure to radiant energy such as gamma rays renders any bugs unable to reproduce on the long journey to the U.S. Insects are in effect, sterilized, which does not actually kill the bug living inside the mango at the time. The energy waves directly attack the molecular structure that form the pest’s DNA. (The European Union lifted its own ban on Indian mangos this summer, but does not approve of irradiation treatment. Mangos destined for Europe are instead submerged in water at 48 degrees Celsius.)"

It doesn't sound like an intrinsically good thing for humans to be consuming food processed this way either...

FWIW, Norway irradiates almost all of its imported spices, and has been doing so since 1982. It's done using gamma rays. The technique is actually recommended by the WHO and the UN's FAO. Wikipedia says

"a large amount of independent research has confirmed irradiation to be safe [5][6][7][8][9]"

and also contains the gem

"Irradiated food does not become radioactive, just as an object exposed to light does not start producing light."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation

If we trust the USDA [1], then it's not really proven to be bad.

[1] http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-...

Why? Do you have the ability to assimilate the DNA of your food into your own?

…? I don't think the article says anything like that.