Food
Irradiation - the problems and concerns
Position
Statement of The Food Commission - July 2002
Introduction
Health risks
Misleading the consumer
Misuse of the technology
The safety of workers
Socio-economical costs
Security risks
Environmental impacts
The Food Irradiation Campaign
Introduction
Food irradiation is being promoted by some international bodies
and industry groups as the answer to the growing problem of food poisoning,
and as a means to combat world hunger by reducing spoilage and extending
food shelf life.A
proposal to relax the global standards governing food irradiation, including
the removal of the current maximum irradiation dose limit, is now under
discussion. The European Commission is also deliberating over whether
to extend its list of foods permitted for irradiation in all EU member
states. The current list includes only herbs, spices and vegetable seasonings,
but the possible extension would mean many other foods could be irradiated
in all member states. Yet consumer concerns persist over the numerous
potential negative impacts of irradiating food.
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Health
risks
- Food irradiation
can result in loss of nutrients, for example vitamin E levels can
be reduced by 25% after irradiation and vitamin C by 5-10%. This is
compounded by the longer storage times of irradiated foods, and by
loss of nutrients during cooking, which can result in the food finally
eaten by the consumer to contain little more than 'empty calories'.
This is potentially damaging to the long and short-term health of
consumers, particularly for sections of society already failing to
obtain adequate nutrition.
- When food is
exposed to high doses of ionising radiation, the chemical composition
and nutritional content of food can change. Radiolytic by-products
are often formed in irradiated food. Very few of these chemicals have
been adequately studied for toxicity. One such chemical - 2-DCB -
can cause DNA damage in rat colon cells at high doses.
- Food irradiation
does not inactivate dangerous toxins which have already been produced
by bacteria prior to irradiation. In some cases, such as C. botulinum,
it is the toxin produced by the bacteria, rather than the bacteria
itself, which poses the health hazard.
- Extension of
the EU list of foods permitted for irradiation could mean that in
future a significant part of the diet of consumers will consist of
irradiated foods. The long-term impacts of this to health remain unknown.
Far more research is required prior to exposing populations to such
a diet.
- Irradiating
products such as mechanically recovered chicken meat, offal and egg
white, could mislead consumers into thinking these are safer. There
is therefore a risk that consumers will fail to take necessary measures
to prevent cross-contamination. The risk of recontamination of food
after irradiation is very serious as a near sterile food is an ideal
medium for very rapid growth of re-introduced bacteria. Irradiated
food must therefore be handled with even greater care in homes and
restaurants.
- Irradiation can
cause mutations in bacteria and viruses leading to potentially resistant
strains.
Misleading
consumers
- Irradiating fruit
and vegetables to extend their shelf life can mislead consumers by
making 'old' food look 'fresh'. The greater the age of fruit and vegetables,
the lower their nutritional value, not to mention the effects of ageing
on their tastes and flavours.
- Consumers may
be dangerously misled because irradiation also unavoidably kills off
bacteria that produce warning smells indicating that the food is going
'off'.
- The irradiation
of some products, such as dried fruit and flakes or germs of cereal,
often considered as health foods (eg. muesli), could lead them to
become misperceived by consumers as inherently contaminated food types.
- Food irradiation
can and has been used to mask poor hygiene practices in food production.
With irradiation, contamination can be sterilised. This reduces the
incentive to clean up sloppy food processing operations - the industry
is provided with a 'quick fix' as an alternative to dealing with the
sources of the problem. The consumer has a right to expect clean food,
yet irradiation can lead to the increased production of food contaminated
with dirt -'clean' dirt.
- Irradiation can
be used to maintain or even worsen poor standards of animal husbandry.
Overcrowding of animals whist rearing and prior to slaughter, as well
as the use of cheap but inappropriate feeds, all contribute to contamination
of animal products such as meat, poultry and eggs. Cleaning up these
products at the end of the production line removes the incentive to
improve animal welfare.
- Breaches of existing
labelling legislation have occurred in European countries, with the
sale of unlabelled irradiated foods. This was recently discovered
to be occurring again by a UK government detection survey which found
that nearly half the food supplements sampled were illegally irradiated
and unlabelled (see press releases). Under these circumstances the
consumers' right to choice is flouted. Relaxation of irradiation standards
could worsen this situation.
- If they succeed,
on-going industry efforts in the US to substitute the term 'irradiation'
on irradiated food labels with terms such as 'cold pasteurisation'
could serve to confuse and mislead consumers.
The
safety of workers
- Workers risk
accidental exposure to dangerous levels of radiation, particularly
at irradiation plants using radioactive sources.
- The use of irradiation
to sterilise meat at the end of the production line allows slaughter
lines to be run at dangerously high speeds, since the greater contamination
that occurs during high speed carving of carcasses can be 'cleaned
up' at the end of the line. This approach increases the risk of accidents
and fatalities by forcing meat packers to work faster than ever.
Socio-economic costs
- Food irradiation
is not a low-cost method. Irradiation plants are expensive and could
help large multinationals to eliminate smaller and more local producers.
Requirements for improved security measures at all facilities holding
radioactive materials, are likely to increase the costs of irradiation
plants, leading to an increase in the prices of irradiated foods.
- Irradiation supports
greater globalisation of food production and supply, threatening local
farmers and food processors.
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Security
risks
- It has been reported
that numerous unrecovered losses and thefts of radioactive materials
occur each year. Recent events have raised concerns over the potential
for terrorists to obtain these materials for use in 'dirty bombs'.
A dirty bomb uses conventional explosives to disperse radioactive
materials. Such an attack could cause radiation contamination over
several city blocks, but probably no deaths from radiation because
of the low doses as the material is dispersed. Such an attack could
spread panic and have significant economic impacts. It would require
lengthy cleanup operations, although these materials are fairly easily
detected.
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Environmental
impacts
- Accidents at
radioactive irradiation plants have already led to radioactive spills
and contamination of surrounding land and water resources. This could
happen again.
- The construction
of more irradiation plants could necessitate more transportation of
radioactive materials, entailing risks of accidents and radioactive
leaks over a wider area.
- Irradiation allows
food to be transported over greater distances, leading to greater
air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to global
warming.
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The
Food Irradiation Campaign believes that:
- the precautionary
principle should be asserted until chemical by-products formed in
irradiated foods have been adequately studied for toxicity in compliance
with modern scientific protocols, and are proven safe for consumption.
- food irradiation
is no solution for cleaning up foods that are contaminated due to
unhygienic production lines.
- priority should
focus on improving production, storage, and processing, rather than
on killing off contamination at the last stage.
- food irradiation
benefits the industry rather than consumers, and large multinational
companies rather than local and small-scale producers.
- food irradiation
works against local food supplies and its application for mass commodities
is likely to undermine sustainability.
- good food doesn't
need irradiating.
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