Doug, in the U.S. at least, irradiation is only allowed in very few products. It is currently not allowed in canned goods. Lots of validation studies would need to be done for years.
There is a very serious risk of botulism in low acid, shelf stable products. The FDA or USDA (if it has meat in it) has very stringent rules for retort products to prevent this. They would have to be convinced beyond doubt that irradiation has killed every single pathogen and spore and does not create anything harmful.
I agree that irradiation can accomplish this, but it will be very expensive to prove and very expensive to impliment. In the mean time, there are very good canned goods out there, unfortunately most of it is only availble to the food service industry – the retail stuff is mostly garbage.
