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FDA Proposes Relaxing Irradiation Labeling

Zapping Food Could Prevent Most Cases of Food Poisoning, Adherents Claim

April 5, 2007

Irradiation • Feds Approve Irradiation of Spinach, Lettuce • FDA Proposes Relaxing Irradiation Labeling • Irradiation Debate Flares Amid Food Poisoning Outbreaks • Study: Irradiation Could Reduce Food-Borne Illness • Irradiated Food Saves Lives, Study Finds • USDA Approves Expanded Irradiation of Meat, Poultry --- • More about Food Safety ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing a ruling that would relax labeling regulations for irradiated foods and supplements.

Under the proposed new rule, only irradiated foods in which the irradiation causes a material change in the food's molecular structure would need to be labeled with the "radura" logo, which is currently required of all irradiation food.

In addition, the agency suggests coming up with a new word to describe the process, perhaps "pasteurized." It's though many consumers fear the word "irradiated" means the food is radioactive.

Irradiation works by exposing foods to ionizing radiation that kills insects, moulds and bacterium. It kills up to 99 percent of pathogens and is seen by the food industry as a means of ensuring food safety.

The National Center for Policy Analysis has estimated that if half the food at greatest risk consumed in the United States were to be irradiated, food-borne illnesses would decline by 900,000 cases annually and deaths by 352.

"Surely we can expect to hear loud protests from the usual suspects who view every food technology with unwarranted doubt and concern," said Ruth Kava, Ph.D., R.D. of the American Council on Science and Health. "We've heard, for example, the false claim that irradiating foods will let producers have dirty facilities.

"But such claims have no basis in fact (they were also used when pasteurization of milk was first proposed). What is true is that irradiation can help prevent the outbreaks of food-borne illness and deaths, like those from E. coli-contaminated spinach and lettuce that we saw in the fall of 2006," Kava said.

Agreeing with Kava is Dennis G. Maki, M.D., author of a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Irradiation of high-risk foods after processing could greatly reduce the incidence of all bacterial foodborne disease and save hundreds of lives each year, Maki argues.

"Irradiation kills or markedly reduces counts of food pathogens without impairing the nutritional value of the food or making it toxic, carcinogenic, or radioactive," according to Maki, a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin.

Irradiation of food is already approved in the United States for most perishable foods and has been endorsed by the World Health Organization, CDC, FDA, USDA, American Medical Association, and European Commission Scientific Committee on Food.

But Food & Water Watch, a Washington-based organization, contends that irradiation is not the answer to food safety problems.

"That 5,000 people in the United States die every year from foodborne illnesses is tragic," said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. "Food producers need to address the source of the problem -- too fast processing lines and dirty conditions at plants -- not promote an expensive, impractical and ineffective technology like irradiation."

The United States currently has roughly 50 irradiation facilities, used mainly for medical supplies and other non-food items. But many facilities have been closed because of public resistance to irradiated food.

The 2004 bankruptcy of San Diego-based SureBeam was the most notable failure. The bankruptcy resulted in the virtual end of irradiated meat sales and the idling of three irradiators, in Sioux City, Iowa, and near Chicago and Los Angeles.

However, in the fall of 2006, food irradiation received renewed media attention following the E coli outbreak in spinach. As a publicity stunt, the chief executive of one firm using irradiation -- Sadex -- ate spinach intentionally contaminated with E coli and then irradiated.

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