Irradiation would help reduce food poisoning

John Bassett, a microbiologist and risk assessment specialist, who formerly worked for Unilever and was, until March 2014, a member of the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food, described irradiation as “a wonderful technology”.​

“If it were allowed in Europe, I am sure we would see a reduction​ [in food poisoning],” said Bassett. “I think it is a travesty that this technology is not allowed in Europe. Decision making isn’t always based on science; it’s a combination of science and public perception and feeling.”​

Bassett echoed the views of an increasing number of food scientists and food safety experts who have called for irradiation rules in the EU to be relaxed. He believed it could prove particularly useful for foods aimed at vulnerable consumers, such as the elderly and those whose immunity to infection was suppressed by illness or by the drugs they were being prescribed.

Not safety driven ​

Objections to irradiation’s wider adoption were “consumer driven rather than safety driven”,​ claimed Bassett. Consumers commonly confuse food that is ‘irradiated’ with food, such as that from around the Japanese Fukushima nuclear reactor damaged in the 2011 tsunami, which is affected by ‘radioactive’ contamination.

However, while irradiated food is treated with electron beams, X-rays or gamma rays to kill off dangerous pathogens, it is not left radioactively contaminated.

Currently, the use of food irradiation in the EU is quite heavily restricted. By contrast, in the US it is far more widely permitted and can be used for treating products such as minced beef used in hamburgers.

In the UK there are seven categories of food which may be irradiated under current legislation. These include categories such as: fruit, vegetables and cereals, dried aromatic herbs, spices and vegetable seasonings, fish and shellfish and poultry.

However, because of consumer fears, it is not believed to be widely used; not least because all foods which have been irradiated must be labelled as ‘irradiated’ or ‘treated with ionising radiation’.

Carcinogenic ​

Although some research has suggested that irradiation could produce carcinogenic changes in highly fatty foods, the scientific evidence is small and both the UK FSA and European Food Safety Authority have claimed that food treated in this way was safe to eat.

However, Bassett accepted that if the rules were to be relaxed in the EU, the fact that the quality of some foodstuffs is adversely affected by irradiation could also prevent its wider application.

Some also fear that the wider use of irradiation as a ‘magic bullet’ for killing off dangerous pathogens would cause hygiene standards and practices during food manufacture to be relaxed. Most experts, however, reject these objections as spurious.

Don’t miss Food Manufacture’s Food safety conference: ‘Safer food and drink from harvest to home’, which takes place at The Lowry in Manchester on September 29. For more information click here or call 01293 610354.