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Is Irradiated Food Safe?
| Article
# : |
20521 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1992 |
1,751 Words |
| Author
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Michael G. Simic
Michael G. Simic is adjunct professor of pharmacology and
toxicology in the School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland,
Baltimore. |
Food irradiation, which is the treatment of fresh fruits and vegetables, dried spices, meats and poultry with ionizing radiation, has been a controversial technology. Ongoing heated debate has contributed to the uneven course of this emergent, yet relatively old, food-processing technique.
The issue of the safety of irradiated foods was brought into focus most recently following the sales of irradiated strawberries in Florida. The fruit had been treated in this way in order to retard the growth of mold and to maintain quality while extending their shelf life by a week. Current arguments against food irradiation are more sophisticated than earlier beliefs that irradiated foods are radioactive, glow in the dark, or are overly toxic if consumed.
This short survey will examine the basic scientific principles and facts about food irradiation, investigate the main issues in the current controversy, and explore some options for the use of this technology.
Emergence Of Food Irradiation
Different kinds of ionizing radiation (X rays, gamma rays, high-energy electrons, etc.) were discovered nearly a century ago. And while they have had numerous beneficial applications in medicine, science, and technology, ionizing radiation has also had catastrophic outcomes--as at Chernobyl. But it would be difficult to imagine the practice of modern medicine without the use of X rays in clinical diagnostics and treatment. Of the 1.1 million cases of cancer detected in the United States Annually almost 60 percent are treated with ionizing radiation, because in sufficiently high doses such radiation kills tumor cells. The killing of cells is mediated by radiation-generated free radicals, which damage biological molecules such as DNA by breaking apart or chemically altering their constituents.
The radiation-induced destruction of cells is not restricted to mammalian cells only. Unicellular organisms, such as bacteria, molds, and fungi (yeasts), as well as multicellular parasites, are susceptible to the damaging effects of ionizing radiation. The lethal dose, however, varies according to the cell type.
This destructive feature of ionizing radiation having been identified, its possible application in the pasteurization and sterilization of foods was discussed at the beginning of the century. The first U.S. Patent associated with food irradiation was issued in 1921
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