Title: Food%20Irradiation:%20%20Can%20it%20Make%20Food%20Safer?
1Food Irradiation Can it Make Food Safer?
- History
- What is irradiation?
- Sources and facilities
- Doses used for foods
- Benefits
- Wholesomeness
- Quality
- Cost
2History of Food Irradiation
- 1921 Schwartz publishes studies on lethal
effect of irradiation on Trichinella in pork - 1953 Atoms for Peace program launches food
irradiation research in U.S. - 1955 Research in Europe begins
- 1958 Amendment to FDC act of 1938 regarding
food additives
3History of Food Irradiation
- 1976 Joint expert committee (IAEA, WHO, and FAO)
declares food irradiation a process - 1980 Same expert committee declares foods
irradiated at up to 10kGy to be wholesome - 1997 Same expert committee declares foods
irradiated at ANY DOSE to be as wholesome and
safe as foods treated by any conventional
processing treatment
4Who EndorsesFood Irradiation?
5Who in the World is Irradiating Food?
6What is Irradiation?
7Effect of Irradiationon Atoms
Incident photon
The Compton Effect
8Effect of Irradiationon Molecules
9Effect of Irradiationon Microorganisms
10Sources Used for Food Irradiation
- Gamma rays
- produced by Co60 or Cs137
- penetrate 3 ft. material
- Accelerated electrons
- produced by linear accelerator
- penetrate 3/4 in. (1.5 in. double-sided)
- X-rays
- produced by linear accelerator
- penetrate 3 ft. material
11A Word About Radioactivity
- Why FDA permits only Co60 or Cs137
- Co60 has 1.3 MeV of Energy/photon
- Cs137 has 0.67 MeV of Energy/photon
- How much energy needs to be applied to a material
for it to become radioactive?
12A Word About Nuclear Waste
27Co59 0n1 27Co60
28Ni60
beta
gamma
13Facilities - Gamma
product already packaged dosimetry recorded
automated processing physical separation
14Facilities - Linear Accelerator
Electron Gun
15Irradiation Dose
- Amount of energy absorbed per kg of material
- kGy kilo Gray
- Ranges
- High (sterilization) gt10 kGy
- Medium (pasteurization) 1-10 kGy
- Low (disinfestation) lt1 kGy
16Applications
Medium dose
High dose
Low dose
17Current Approvals in U.S.
18Benefits of Food Irradiation
- Eliminates vegetative cells of
- Escherichia coli O157H7
- Salmonella
- Listeria monocytogenes
- Campylobacter jejuni
- Others
19Benefits of Food Irradiation
20The Question of Wholesomeness
- Total of 1221 studies conducted up to 1979 on
wholesomeness of 278 different foods fed to a
variety of animals resulted in no significant
difference between irradiated and nonirradiated
foods in terms of - toxigenicity, pathogenicity, or mutagenicity
21Summary ofUS Army/Raltech Study
- Requested by FDA in 1976
- 7 years, 8M cost
- Rats, dogs, mice fed a variety of foods for 4
generations - Frozen vs. Canned vs. Irradiated (56kGy)
- Highest incidence of neoplasms (frozen food!)
- Lowest fertility after 3 generations (canned
food!) - Irradiated food caused NO
- reduction in offspring, increase in stillbirths
22Quality of Irradiated Foods
23Cost of Irradiated Foods
Dose Temperature Thickness
Time Source
Throughput Transport
COST
0.02-0.07/lb ?
24Future of Food Irradiation?
A Question of Safety and Choice.