Toxic Potatoes, irradiation and chemicals

I had an interesting talk with someone the other day about supermarkets using chemicals to prevent potatoes from sprouting in your cupboard during the warm summer months.

While it made sense it could easily just have been a good yarn and a bit of hearsay.

So I decided to google for it and see what I could turn up to substantiate it...

I found an interesting reference from the food standards agency regarding natural toxins in green potatoes but nothing about the use of chemicals to stop them sprouting.

Jackie French seems to have it covered for how to grow your potatoes but again nothing on chemicals.

I Found some more about the naturally occurring glycoalkaloid toxins when potatoes are turning green, still nothing on chemicals.

Found a well written article on food irradiation which I think is what comes closest to the story I was told and quite possibly more the case than a chemical having been used.

"Strawberries last weeks instead of days. Potatoes and onions sprouting is delayed, because the cellular 'software', the DNA, of the eyes' cells are short circuited. These potatoes
and onions will sprout, it is just delayed."

Think this will make a good post in itself on irradiation, like the article says

"This method is treating food with radiation. Many folks have a knee-jerk
reaction when they hear this word."

Well I'm certainly one of those people that.

My reservation is concerning the effect of the irradiation process on the life energy of the food, any one that's grown their own will know the splendor of the taste of something that has come out of the ground that day, but for the rest of us it may well be the case of a lesser of two evil.

Conclusion: Was a good yarn / urban myth, possibly just a story made up around the observed evidence caused by irradiation.

Ps For anyone who does grow their own, I was speaking to these guys over at the Seer Centre the other day.

I heard of them a couple of years ago and am now getting the rock dust to prepare a patch of ground for a late crop and compost for next year.