Thank you everyone for your replies and support.

Thank you for lighting the candle Phesina.

Yes Kb2yjx I have all your emails unless you have sent one in the last couple of weeks - haven't heard from you in a while but we have both been busy.

Catty it's important to know the ins and out of Quarantine fully. Firstly they didn't have to irradiate. The Government/Quarantine do not force people to irradiate their product. Any pet food that is not processed with moist heat at 100 degrees centrigrade for 30 mins during production will fail Australia's quarantine requirements. Importers are then offered 3 options:1)Moist heat treatment 100deg C for 30mins upon arrival in Australia 2) Gamma irradiation upon arrival in Australia 3) Don't bother bringing it into Australia.
If option 1) is not appropriate then Quarantine advise IN WRITING to determine if gamma irradiation is suitable for the product and its packaging before going ahead. Also the irradiation company (a commercial facility) offers a free test run before doing the whole shipment so importers/manufacturers can test the product post irradiation and make sure they are satisfied that it has not affected it adversely (how can nuking something at 300 million times strength of a chest x-ray not adversely affect something?)
However this free test run option was refused and when I spoke to the CEO of the irradiation facility in January he said they thought this was quote: "highly unusual".
Negligence if you ask me.
So if Champion are claiming "they made us do it" well, just look at the documents in the links Public Informer posted on that other forum and copied above.
This is a multibillion dollar industry out of control, driven by greed and powered by high profit margins - the difference in the cost of the waste product render they use to make the cr@p and the high prices they charge for the end product. And by careful product placement in places where people with white coats and an air of authority tend to predominate ... well you get the picture