Irradiation adds extra measure of food safety for AIDS patients and others with lowered immunity; these people are cautioned not to eat uncooked fruits and vegetables and to make sure that all fish, eggs, and other foods that may harbor disease-causing bacteria or parasites are cooked until well-done. Even after these precautions are taken, food-borne diseases are a major hazard for people with compromised immunity. High-dose irradiation can eliminate such dangers.

Irradiation of foods may help reduce the incidence of food borne disease. It would help prevent insect pests coming into or leaving the country on certain foodstuffs, and it would replace some chemical treatments of food.

In many countries, including New Zealand and Australia , an increasing number of people are becoming sick from food borne diseases caused by micro-organisms like Campylobacter and Listeria. Food borne illnesses can be serious and in rare cases cause death. Food irradiation is one safe and useful tool to help combat this pressing public health problem related to our food supply.

This is especially so for some foods, such as spices and uncooked chicken, which can carry a high risk of occasional bacterial contamination. For dry herbs and spices there are very few treatment methods that can be used without loss of quality or flavour. Spices are currently treated with ethylene oxide gas to rid them of potentially harmful bacteria. Food irradiation may be an alternative to chemical treatments such as ethylene oxide.

Advocates of irradiation also emphasize that the technique can increase food supplies in many parts of the world, especially in underdeveloped tropical areas. In India, for example, spoilage destroys half the food that is produced. Irradiation could conceivably solve the chronic food shortages in such areas.