Quote:
Originally Posted by neilzero
The frequency of the electromagnetic radiation in a micro wave oven is thousands of times lower than gamma and x rays, so negligible ionization is produced in the food unless you heat the food to very high temperature. Typically food that has been microwaved is safer than food heated by other methods, but I suppose rare health exceptions occur. If heated in a plastic container, there is some possibility that toxic gases from the plastic will enter the food, but that is also true of heating food in plastic containers by other food heating methods. Neil
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I would think that contamination of that kind could happen from other materials too, for example, heavy metals are sometimes used in pigments for glazed ceramics and coloured glass.
It is actually interesting that one so often hear about how bad microwaves are, how they reduce the nutrients in the food, create carsinogenic substances and so on, when these are very real problems with traditional methodes for food preparation. High temperatures can create carcinogens and release substances from the cooking gear, cooking in water can wash/disolve out nutrients, coking over fires or smoking food can introduce unhealthy materials from the smoke, and so on. I would think that these problems would actually be less likely to occur with microwave ovens.