The push against irradiated beef happens because it'd allow most common levels of food handling mishaps to be sold safely without getting people sick, and as th

The push against irradiated beef happens because it'd allow most common levels of food handling mishaps to be sold safely without getting people sick, and as the article states, most meat is already contaminated with feces. So many corners could be cut without causing problems, but standard irradiation can't kill prions. (They don't have DNA to irradiate.) So theoretically you reduce the quality of food, increase the profit for the meat packing industry, reduce the frequency of food borne illness, but increase the damage when it does happen. Irradiation really isn't a cut and dried benefit.