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Irradiation of food

Expert replies
by metallicafan » Thu Sep 06, 2012 1:17 pm
Which of the following most logically completes the argument?
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_________.

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

By POE, I agree with the OA. However, I have this doubt:
Although it seems a strengthen question, this is a weaken question because we have to show that the point of the proponents of irradiation is wrong.
In this sense, we have to weaken the conclusion: "irradiation is no worse in this respect than cooking". In other words, we have to show that irradiation destroys a higher percentage of vitamin B1.
Choice E indicates that irradiating and cooking the food destroys more vitamin B1 than either of those processes alone. However, this choice just shows that the compound effect is bigger or higher, it doesn't show that irradiating is worse than cooking if we comparing them individually.

Please, your help.

OA is E.
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by Kasia@EconomistGMAT » Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:16 pm
Proving that irradiation is worse than cooking is NOT the point here. Consider the last sentence of the argument:
" However, this fact is either beside the point, since much irradiated food is eaten raw, or else misleading, since_________. "

What we need to prove is that the claim that irradiation is no worse than cooking IS MISLEADING.
Choice E does it. It shows that the two processes (cooking and irradiation) should not be compared separately because irradiated products are often ALSO cooked.
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