||Food Irradiation Guides Under Development
Irradiation is used to control sprouting and ripening and to
serve as a quarantine treatment in fresh fruits and other produce,
and to inactivate parasites and reduce the incidence of spoilage
and pathogenic microorganisms in meats, spices, and other foods,
says chemist Don Derr, Food Safety Consulting Service, Glen Burnie,
Md., the chairman of ASTM Subcommittee E10.06 on Food Irradiation
Processing and Packaging.
At the June meetings of Committee E10 on Nuclear Technology, the subcommittee discussed standard guides
that will promote good irradiation practice for many foods.
Users of these standards fall roughly into two groups; processors
of food commodities that could benefit from irradiation, and facilities
with interest in irradiating foods, states Derr, who was responsible
for the safety and wholesomeness of domestic and imported meat
and poultry during his career as deputy director, Scientific Support,
U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service.
It is important not to assume that a food processor knows enough
about the irradiation process and, equally, that an irradiation
processor knows enough about the foods to be processed. These
standard guides provide a common ground of knowledge to form a
basis for successful business relationships between the two groups.
According to Derr, irradiated food has been sold in small quantities
since 1990. Irradiated produce such as citrus, tomatoes, onions,
and strawberries have been available in small markets in the Midwest
and Florida since 1992. Tropical fruits such as mangoes and papayas
shipped from Hawaii have been irradiated in the Midwest and sold
in small area markets. Later in the decade, small amounts of irradiated
poultry surfaced in the marketplace, and this past May, larger
quantities of irradiated ground beef became available in about
250 retail markets in the Midwest and in a smaller markets in
U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidance requires first generation
irradiated foods to be labeled treated by irradiation or treated
with radiation, Derr says.
Present ASTM standards covering food irradiation are:
F 1355, Standard Guide for Irradiation of Fresh Fruits as a Phytosanitary
F 1356, Standard Guide for the Irradiation of Fresh and Frozen Red Meats
and Poultry to Control Pathogens and Other Microorganisms;
F 1640, Standard Guide for Packaging Materials for Foods to be Irradiated;
F 1736, Standard Guide for Irradiation of Finfish and Shellfish to Control
Pathogens and Spoilage Micro-Organisms; and
F 1885, Standard Guide for the Irradiation of Dried Spices, Herbs, and
Vegetable Seasonings to Control Pathogens and Other Microorganisms.
F 1640 is being updated. Areas of new standards development are
good irradiation practice standards for shell eggs and ready-to-eat
foods such as produce, meat, and poultry. Additionally, a standardized
methodology of dose-setting for foods has been proposed that will
be similar to ANSI/ AAMI/ISO 11137, Sterilization of Healthcare
ProductsRequirements for Validation and Routine ControlRadiation
Sterilization, a standard co-developed by the American National
Standards Institute, Association for the Advancement of Medical
Instrumentation, and International Organization for Standardization.
Input is sought from processors of shell eggs and ready-to-eat
foods. Stakeholders are invited to join ASTM subcommittee members
from the radiation processing industry, government research and
regulatory agencies, the food industry, and private sector who
meet semi-annually within the continental United States.
For additional technical information, contact Don Derr, 148 Alview Terrace, Glen Burnie, MD 21060-7452 (410/766-9186;
fax: 410/766-0540). Committee E10 meets Jan. 21-24, 2001, in Reno,
Nev. For meeting or membership details, contact Lisa Drennen, ASTM (610/832-9735). //
Copyright 2000, ASTM