RE: Radiation Symbol on Irradiated Food????

["Dillon, Jon" <JDillon@ligand.com>]

Tom,

A quick clarification here.  There is a symbol that is used on "irradiated"
or "treated by radiation" foods that is called the Radura symbol.  I am not
sure if this is the international symbol, but I think it is.  Has there now
been a change proposing that the yellow and magenta trifoil is to be used??

Thanks,
Jon Dillon

> -----Original Message-----
> 
> Has everyone seen this??????  I think putting the standard radiation
> symbol
> on irradiated food is  wrong!!!!!  Does anyone know why this is happening?
> Does anyone know who we should address comments to??  Does the Health
> Physics Society know about this??
> 
> Tom Goff
> 
> 
> Thursday February 25, 12:56 am Eastern Time
> 
> Irradiated meat must be prominently labeled - USDA
> 
> WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - U.S. meat companies can use 
> irradiation to kill deadly bacteria but only if they prominently label 
> packages to inform consumers, the U.S. Agriculture Department 
> said Wednesday.  
> 
> USDA issued the proposed rules at a time when an outbreak of 
> listeria in hot dogs and lunch meat produced by a Michigan plant 
> has killed 16 and sickened many others.  
> 
> Irradiation has been embraced by some experts as an efficient way 
> to kill potentially dangerous bacteria in ground beef and other cuts 
> of meat. Consumer groups are less certain benefits outweigh the 
> risk to worker safety, and meat companies are concerned about 
> the cost of installing the equipment.  
> 
> Irradiation exposes food to small amounts of radiation from X-ray 
> machines or electron accelerators that penetrate and kill bacteria 
> without raising the temperature.  
> 
> Companies would not be required to use irradiation.
> 
> The most controversy over the USDA regulations is likely to center 
> on the department's proposed labeling rules.
> 
> The USDA wants to require that package labels contain the 
> international symbol for radiation and a statement telling 
> consumers the product was treated with irradiation. The symbol 
> must be ``prominently'' placed on the package and the statement 
> printed on the front of the label, the USDA said.  
> 
> But regulators said they might also allow companies to adopt a 
> more consumer-friendly label that states a product is free of E. coli 
> or other pathogens because of irradiation.  
> 
> More than 25 percent of Americans are expected to purchase 
> irradiated ground beef products, the USDA said.
> 
> The cost of treating beef would include between two and six cents 
> a pound for the equipment and labeling, amounting to between $35 
> and $105 million for irradiating 1.7 billion pounds of ground beef, the 
> USDA said.  
> 
> Those expenses would be more than offset by fewer food poisoning 
> cases, which mean reduced costs for doctor bills and lost work.  
> 
> Tom Billy, administrator of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection 
> Service, said the rules must give companies ``significant flexibility'' 
> in using irradiation.  
> 
> ``The Food Safety and Inspection Service has endeavored to 
> propose regulations for the irradiation of meat food products that 
> set forth performance objectives, rather than prescribe specific 
> processing methods,'' the USDA said.  
> 
> That means setting a cap on the maximum dose of irradiation for 
> beef, and allowing plants to develop their own procedures for use.  
> 
> The new rules will also cover poultry. The USDA approved 
> irradiation for poultry several years ago, but few companies have 
> used it because of the expense.  
> 
> Consumer and industry groups have until April 26 to offer their 
> views on the proposed regulations. The USDA will then spend 
> several more weeks developing a final set of rules.  
> 
> An estimated 9,000 Americans die from food poisoning annually, 
> according to government figures. The exact number of illnesses is 
> difficult to track because many consumers mistake  
> food poisoning for other ailments.
> 
> 
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