New Regulations Proposed for Irradiation of Meat and Other Foods
You may think it's a new technique used to kill harmful bacteria in foods consumed by humans. It is not. For over 40 years a small portion of the U.S. food supply has been dosed with strong radiation. Irradiation of foods has proven to kill off dangerous microbes, extend the shelf life of foods and reduce spoilage.
Before we go further with this explanation, you must know when foods are irradiated the food does not become radioactive. The maximum dose of irradiation on meat is approximately 4.5 kiloGrays--this is the unit of irradiation. That would be the same as 7 million chest X-rays. That's a lot of energy for one package of meat. These X-rays are used to try to get the bacteria pathogens killed on the meat.
In the case of meat and other irradiated products containing fat, irradiation seems to cause a radiolytic byproduct, that is specific to irradiation. Radiation changes the fat into 2-alkylcyclobutanones, or 2-ACBs; when put into lab rats seem to cause cancer tumors in their colon. More research needs to be done in terms of the safety of irradiation, especially particularly when it comes to irradiating products like meat. In Europe irradiating meat is illegal because of those concerns about irradiated fat. This information comes from an NPR radio interview with Dr. Urvashi Rangan, an environmental health scientist and policy analyst at Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. Dr.Rangan is also Director of GreenerChoices.ORG
Currently federal regulations require foods that have been treated in this way must be labeled. The demand for food that carries the irradiated label is limited. The public is apprehensive about radiation, especially with regards to its food. Now the Food and Drug Administration is proposing sweeping changes that would relax labeling requirements.
The Food and Drug Administration, FDA, is caving in to the demands of the food industry representatives. Having been relentlessly petitioned in the past decade by people in the industry who want to use irradiation but don't always want to label it, the FDA under the Bush administration would allow for food that has been irradiated not to be labeled as irradiated, especially where there's no change in taste. Another major change would allow companies to provide alternate label claims in place of irradiation notice.
MORE ABOUT IRRADIATED FOODS IN THE NEXT POST
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Before we go further with this explanation, you must know when foods are irradiated the food does not become radioactive. The maximum dose of irradiation on meat is approximately 4.5 kiloGrays--this is the unit of irradiation. That would be the same as 7 million chest X-rays. That's a lot of energy for one package of meat. These X-rays are used to try to get the bacteria pathogens killed on the meat.
In the case of meat and other irradiated products containing fat, irradiation seems to cause a radiolytic byproduct, that is specific to irradiation. Radiation changes the fat into 2-alkylcyclobutanones, or 2-ACBs; when put into lab rats seem to cause cancer tumors in their colon. More research needs to be done in terms of the safety of irradiation, especially particularly when it comes to irradiating products like meat. In Europe irradiating meat is illegal because of those concerns about irradiated fat. This information comes from an NPR radio interview with Dr. Urvashi Rangan, an environmental health scientist and policy analyst at Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. Dr.Rangan is also Director of GreenerChoices.ORG
Currently federal regulations require foods that have been treated in this way must be labeled. The demand for food that carries the irradiated label is limited. The public is apprehensive about radiation, especially with regards to its food. Now the Food and Drug Administration is proposing sweeping changes that would relax labeling requirements.
The Food and Drug Administration, FDA, is caving in to the demands of the food industry representatives. Having been relentlessly petitioned in the past decade by people in the industry who want to use irradiation but don't always want to label it, the FDA under the Bush administration would allow for food that has been irradiated not to be labeled as irradiated, especially where there's no change in taste. Another major change would allow companies to provide alternate label claims in place of irradiation notice.
MORE ABOUT IRRADIATED FOODS IN THE NEXT POST
Visit Our Forum: Tell Us What You Think!
posted by You Think at 12:50 AM
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