Re: Food irradiation---do seeds sprout? Did that denature the

[Franz Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 21:27 02.04.2000 -0500, you wrote:
>
>People who do not want to eat artificially irradiated food should not.  It
>is unlikely that the entire food supply would be artifically irradiated.  It
>is impossible that all exposure to harmful organisms could be stopped by the
>use of radiation on food.
>

I totally agree with you. However one of the problems has been for a long
time that "the industry" (whatever this is) originally did not want to have
the food labelled as irradiated. This makes the average people suspicious.
One of the most important concern of serious European scientists is, that
the working hygiene practices might be neglected, because irradiation would
be assumed to kill bacteria introduced by improper treatment of food. To
argue that (as happened some time ago on RADSAFE) that a few people would
not have become ill because of salmonella infested hamburgers if the ground
beef had been irradiated, is not valid. First of all the ground beef had
been left overnight, secondly if thoroughly cooked not a single salmonella
would survive. Even to save a few lifes per year does not justify that
thousands or millions of tons of beef have to be irradiated. Even less
negligance in commercial food preparation should be overcome by irradiation. 

Spices are a good candidate for irradiation, because they are usually
extensively contaminated. But there is a difference, whether a knife-tip of
spices is used in a household or kilograms in the production of sausage etc. 

I am not at all opposed to food irradiation, but it should be used only
when it makes sense and not at all to maximise profits by extending shelf
life or improper food processing on industrial scale. It sure makes sense
in developing countries, where a very large portion of harvest is destroyed
by insects or where seafood is a mayor part of nutrition, but not in
developed ones, where enough means exist from cooling to refrigerating and
fast means of transport to deliver the food in fresh condition to the
customer.

I do not want to comment the details of Jim Phelps, except the following: 

The problem of an immune system which does not work properly when not used
to exposure to the bacteria or agents is not restricted to irradiated food,
but what is regarded by many people as a much too far exaggerated use of
hygiene. This part is by far more important.

The amounts of chlorine theoretically liberated by irradiation must be so
small that one can absolute neglect it. Furthermore for the formation of
toxic compounds there would have to be the right starting compounds
together in the molecular range, which I doubt. I am not a radiation
chemist, but I doubt that the radiation used in the sterilisation process
would be able to produce single atomic chlorine in a sodium chloride
solution. I do not know about practices in the USA, but I doubt that
poultry or other meat, not to talk about vegetables, fruits, spices, fish,
shellfish etc. would be salted before freezing (the salt would put the
freezing point down!). Even less it can be salted when not being frozen.
Regarding PVC there is at least in Europe no problem, because this material
has been banned from use in the food industry since long. 

What is so bad about "dead" vegetables like potatoes or onions - are they
not "killed" when you cut them, cook them, fry them? 

Regarding the "dangerous breakdown products": What do you think happens
when you put your beef into the pan? What happens when you expose potatoes
to boiling water? What happens to the hamburger you grill on fire? Are you
convinced that no by-products are formed by normal food preparation
procedures? Hopefully not, because you would be totally wrong! Smoked meat
is very well known to contain benzpyrenes, which are as well known to be
very toxic and cancer causing agents - they occur also in tobacco smoke by
the way.

You cannot exclude all risk in life and I tell you that I still cook my
eggs (secretly because of the cholesterine) only four to five minutes,
because I like them that way in spite of the risk of salmonella. I prefer a
steak in the "rare" form and I like smoked meat. I like "sushi" with raw
fish. The number of salmonella infestions do not justify compulsory
irradiation.


I disagree with most arguments of Jim Phelps, but in a polite way, because
I am used to talk to people who have reservations against food irradiation
or nuclear power. Nevertheless I fully support the wish of consumers, who
do not want to eat irradiated food, that they have a choice.

Franz



 
Franz Schoenhofer
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43-1-495 53 08
Fax.: same number
mobile phone: +43-664-338 0 333
e-mail: schoenho@via.at


Office:
Hofrat Dr. Franz Schoenhofer
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Resources
Radiation Protection Department
Radetzkystr. 2
A-1031 Vienna
AUSTRIA

phone: -43-1-71172-4458
fax: -43-1-7122331

************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html