Re: Food Irradiation

[Jim Muckerheide <muckerheide@mediaone.net>]

Eric Denison wrote:
> 
> I'm all in favor of continued investigation of and expanded use of
> food
> irradiation, but I wonder if there's a simpler solution.  Couldn't
> folks
> just COOK the blasted burgers?  

Time at minimum 160F = medium-well,  at best!?   Better solution: don't ship
contaminated food!  :-)

Regards, Jim Muckerheide
jmuckerheide@delphi.com

During my time in a clinical lab, I
> don't
> recall meeting up with any e. coli varieties that could handle more
> than a
> few seconds at stove-top temperatures.  Are the new strains that much
> tougher, or are we seeing a new paranoia in action?  Reminds me a bit
> of the
> "any radiation is too much" crap we keep seeing.
> 
> >     Dan Harlan writes:
> >     I would like to expand on this question:
> >     What dose would be required to destroy E. coli in beef?  What
> type of
> >     irradiation would you use: Co-60?  What would be a practical
> activity
> >     and irradiation time to kill E. coli in a meat production
> facility?
> >     What changes could you expect in the beaf after processing:
> taste,
> >     nutritional value, appearance, storage requirements...
> >
> >Not surprisingly, as a microbiologist (and from Arkansas yet), I'm
> >feeling a real need to learn more about the practical aspects of meat
> >irradiation.  I encourage anyone with knowledge to post on this
> >topic, and I'd be curious to know if there is any kind of recent
> literature
> >available on this  topic.  The first two questions above got
> >answered, but I'd also like to see comments on the rest of Dan's
> >questions.
> >David F. Gilmore
> >Assistant Professor of Environmental Biology    0  0
> >P.O. Box 599, Dept. of Biological Sciences       __    "have a day"
> >Arkansas State University
> >State University, AR 72467
> >dgilmore@navajo.astate.edu
> >ph  501-972-3082    fax 501-972-2638
> >
> >
> Eric Denison
> denison.8@osu.edu