Re[2]: food irradiation -Reply

[BRZGV@ccmail.ceco.com]

     Does anyone remember the special that I believe was done on "60 
     Minutes" or "Night Line" a couple of years ago.  I believe the outfit 
     was in Canada and they used a similar method to the one described 
     below.
     
     I can't quite remember, but the show seemed to be reasonably balanced 
     and they even slammed this representative for a group that I believe 
     was named something like "Clean Food and Water" that is somewhere on 
     the east coast like Jersey.  This guy from the group had tried to 
     present a paper with 50 or so references saying that irradiation was 
     bad.  The personnel from the TV show checked the references and I 
     believe every peron references denied knowledge of their reference or 
     said that it was improperly written.  The TV show people basically 
     said that the group was a fraud.
     
     I believe that the TV show said that the World Health Organization 
     stated that food irradiation was the best process to come along since 
     pasteurization.  The W.H.O. is particularly concerned with all of the 
     food spoilage that goes on in countries were people are starving.  As 
     we all know it often takes an unusually long period of time to get 
     food to the people who need it the most.  The extra length of time 
     just increases the need for a process like irradiation.
     
     It was the most balanced reporting of a subject related to radiation 
     that I had ever seen.
     
     Glen Vickers


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re:  food irradiation -Reply
Author:  radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu at INTERNET
Date:    12/12/96 5:25 PM


The irradiator I know (for food or other products)  permits very little 
deviation as far as the process goes. It is a pool type irradiator 
(Nordion International) holding 2 million curies of Co-60. Source 
assembly is hoisted up and down to irradiate products that enter 
automatically in the irradiation room, on a special container fixed on 
rails.  Since the sources are sealed (sealed pellets, stacked on a 
source assembly rack) and stored in a pool, water analysis allow some 
form leak testing. The irradiated product is at least  a feet from the 
source assembly. I had to inspect that facility once and believe me, 
they have a lot of safety features. (interlock, portal monitors, dose 
alarm etc.)   I don't think (and sure hope) that any contamination 
incident may happen in such a facility.
     
     
Stephane Jean-Francois Phys. Eng.
RSO
Merck Frosst Canada Inc.
stephane_jeanfrancois@merck.com
 ----------
From: LASHLEYT@detroitedison.com
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re:  food irradiation -Reply 
Date:  December 12, 1996 14:12
     
     
 --Boundary-3883748-0-0
     
Jim Hardeman wrote:
     
>Assuming that the sources used to irradiate food products
>are "relatively insoluble" (i.e. Co-60) and regularly leak tested, 
>there should not be a concern about contamination of the
>product. The same claim cannot be made with "soluble" 
>sources, such as CsCl. I cannot speak to radiolytic chemical 
>production in the food itself ...
     
It is my understanding that large sealed Co-60 sources are used to 
irradiated
and preserve food products.
     
Tom Lashley
LashleyT@detroitedison.com
     
     
 --Boundary-3883748-0-0
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Date: 12 Dec 96 12:48:01
From:"radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu" <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu> 
To: Multiple,recipients,of,list,radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu 
Subject:  food irradiation -Reply
Reply-to: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
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There is some experience with contamination of irradiated 
products (not food), but to my knowledge only in one (1) 
irradiator which used Cs-137 capsules manufactured at the 
Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF) at
Hanford. One (1) of two-hundred fifty-two (252) capsules at an 
irradiator here in Decatur, GA leaked in 1988 ... 
contaminating the shielding and cooling water, product and
the building ... and a $45 million, 3.5 year cleanup ensued.
     
Assuming that the sources used to irradiate food products
are "relatively insoluble" (i.e. Co-60) and regularly leak tested, 
there should not be a concern about contamination of the
product. The same claim cannot be made with "soluble" 
sources, such as CsCl. I cannot speak to radiolytic chemical
production in the food itself ... I'll have to leave that one to 
somebody else.
     
Jim Hardeman, Manager
Environmental Radiation Program
Environmental Protection Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources 
4244 International Parkway, Suite 114 
Atlanta, GA 30354
(404) 362-2675  fax: (404) 362-2653
Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us
     
>>> Kevin Meyer <qkv@ornl.gov> 12/12/96 13:32 >>>
     
I think that the message is clear that Hormel would like lots
of positive calls to their toll-free number. For those of us who 
are not food safety experts, how about a technical discussion 
(with references) concerning the pro's and con's of food 
irradiation?
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
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