EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• An overwhelming body of scientific data indicates that irradiated food is safe, nutritious, and wholesome. Health authorities worldwide, including leading national and international scientific organizations, have based their approvals of food irradiation on the results of sound scientific research. Irradiation increases the safety profile and the availability of a variety of foods.
• The safety of food irradiation has been studied more extensively than that of any other food preservation process. As is true of other food processes, irradiation can lead to chemical changes in food. Radiolytic products (compounds formed by radiation), are similar to compounds formed by heat treatment. None of these products, in the amounts found in irradiated foods, has been demonstrated to be toxic by any modern toxicological methods.
• As of December 2006, food irradiation has been approved by some 60 countries either for specific or unlimited applications, and it has been applied successfully for several types of food in more than 30 countries.
• Food irradiation is uniquely applicable to many types of fresh (raw), dried or frozen foods, either to ensure microbiological safety, or to prevent the introduction of exotic pests in or on fresh produce before they enter the United States. It offers major advantages over other treatments in providing a necessary microbiological killing step for fresh, frozen, and ready-to-eat foods. It is the only phytosanitary (produce-cleansing) treatment that has been approved (as of 2006) by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on a generic basis—regardless of commodity—with specific minimum doses for various insect pests.
• Between 1983 and 2005, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of irradiation for antimicrobial treatments for spices and dried vegetable seasonings; destroying Trichinella in pork; insect disinfestations and shelf life extension of foods of plant origin; and control of pathogenic bacteria in poultry meat, red meat, shell eggs, sprouting seeds, and molluscan shellfish. A petition to permit irradiation of ready-to-eat food (deli meat, fresh produce, etc.), submitted to the FDA in 1999, is still awaiting approval.
• In 2000, electron beam and X-ray machines, energized by outside electric power, were introduced into the American food processing system. Previously, only irradiators using a cobalt-60 radioactive source had been used for food irradiation. Electron beam or X-ray machines do not use radioactive isotopes. When a cobalt-60 source is used, food irradiation facilities and transport of radioactive sources must meet stringent federal and state regulations. Both types of irradiators have been used routinely for many years to sterilize a number of medical devices and other non-food products for the U.S. market and for processing industrial products such as cables and wires. The industry has an excellent safety record.
• Major food recalls and foodborne disease outbreaks in the past decade have heightened awareness of the risks of foodborne pathogens and the utility of irradiation to ensure microbiological safety of foods. Since 2000, irradiated ground beef has been available in many supermarkets in the U.S. Some meat distribution companies have marketed only irradiated ground beef to provide an additional layer of safety for their customers. Irradiation should be as useful for ensuring the microbiological safety of fresh produce and other ready-to-eat foods, once this application is approved by the FDA.
• The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has estimated that the American consumer will receive approximately $2 in benefits—such as reduced spoilage and less illness—for each $1 spent on food irradiation.
• Use of irradiation will allow many tropical and sub-tropical fruits to enter the U.S. market, thus providing consumers a wide variety of fresh and nutritious food. Irradiated Indian mangoes started entering the U.S. market in April 2007. It will allow U.S. produce to enter countries such as Australia and New Zealand that have strict quarantine requirements and that have already approved irradiation as a phytosanitary treatment.
• Any irradiated food sold as such must be labeled with an internationally recognized irradiation logo and a statement such as “Treated by Irradiation” or “Treated by Ionizing Radiation.” The purpose of the treatment may be displayed on the label as long as it is truthful and not misleading. In April 2007, the FDA proposed that only irradiated foods that are materially changed must be labeled. The FDA would be willing to consider a petition to use the word “pasteurization” instead of irradiation for such foods.
• The American Council on Science and Health supports the use of food irradiation—a science-based technology that has been proven to be safe and effective. ACSH supports informational—not warning—labeling requirements for irradiated food as approved by the FDA. The use of irradiation provides American consumers with an even wider choice of safe, high-quality food.
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