OG 13 101

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OG 13 101

by frankharrison » Sat Oct 11, 2014 3:03 am
The irradiation of food kills bacteria and thus retards spoilage. However, it also lowers the nutritional value of many foods. For example, irradiation destroys a significant percentage of whatever vitamin B1 a food may contain. Proponents of irradiation point out that irradiation is no worse in this respect than cooking. However, this fact is either beside the point, since much irradiated food is eaten raw, or else misleading, since _______.

Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

A. many of the proponents of irradiation are food distributors who gain from food's having a longer shelf life
B. it is clear that killing bacteria that may be present on food is not the only effect that irradiation has
C. cooking is usually the final step in preparing food for consumption, whereas irradiation serves to ensure a longer shelf life for perishable foods
D. certain kinds of cooking are, in fact, even more destructive of vitamin B1 than carefully controlled irradiation is
E. for food that is both irradiated and cooked, the reduction of vitamin B1 associated with either process individually is compounded

I find it difficult to understand as a non-native speaker. Because the question says this fact is either beside the point, since it's eaten raw.
Why "it's eaten raw" has anything to do with "beside the point"
I think if the irradiation food is eaten raw, that means these food don't have to be cooked. So it's no worse than cooking.
This obviously isn't off the point. is it?
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by [email protected] » Sat Oct 11, 2014 11:48 am
Hi frankharrison,

This is an example of a fill-in-the blank Inference question. To answer it, you have to understand the logic in the prompt, then use that logic to complete the final sentence.

The Facts:
-Irradiation of food kills bacteria (and decreases spoiling of the food).
-Irradiation of food lowers the nutritional value of many foods (e.g.. irradiation destroys a significant percents of vitamin B1 in a food).
-Supporters of irradiation point out that irradiation is NO WORSE THAN cooking (when it comes to destroying nutritional value).

-HOWEVER, this last fact is beside the point, since much irradiated food is eaten raw, OR it's misleading since......

Here, the word "since" tells us that we need to provide a reason why the information (about how irradiation is no worse than cooking) is misleading...

The Logic:
Irradiation clearly has some positives (kills bacteria, decreases spoilage) and some negatives (decreases nutritional value, destroys a significant percentage of vitamin B1). The Supports claim that irradiation is NO WORSE THAN cooking food, assuming that you would probably be cooking your food anyway, so the loss of nutritional value and vitamin B1 was going to happen regardless.

The last sentence points out that there are 2 problems with that line of thinking:
1) It might be beside the point - if you eat the food raw, then you were NOT going to cook it, so you COULD have gotten the full nutritional value and vitamin B1...unless someone irradiated the food first.

2) It might be misleading...

So, why might it be misleading. The brunt of the argument is that irradiation of food essentially has the same effect as cooking food, so if you plan to cook your food anyway, then irradiation should not make a difference. BUT what if it did??? Answer E gives us a reason WHY irradiating food AND cooking it would be worse than just cooking it (the reduction of vitamin B1 would be even worse).

Answer A does not actually give a reason for why the information is misleading; it just tells us about the people who would benefit (from a business standpoint) if food was irradiated.

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