Irradiation of foods‐an FDA perspective

Abstract

Food irradiation has been a subject of controversy since its first use as a food process. This article reviews the legislative and regulatory history of food irradiation in the United States and the role of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, then and now.This article also discusses the status of FDA's regulations on food irradiation in the production, processing, and handling of food, as promulgated in the April 18, 1986, final rule, and reviews the safety, labeling, and current good manufacturing practice.

Irradiation of Food and Packaging: An Overview

“…Adjuvants are especially prone to degradation upon irradiation because they degrade preferentially over the polymer. Therefore, the radiation-induced degradation of various polymer adjuvants, including antioxidants, plasticizers, coatings, release agents, and stabilizers must be evaluated as well (44,45).…”

Packaging for Nonthermal Food Processing

“…Carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins will not be noticeably degraded by irradiation, but minor components may be disproportionately depleted by free radicals formed during irradiation (Bloomfield, 1993). Some of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved applications of irradiation include insect disinfestations (0.2À0.5 kGy), sprout inhibition in potatoes (0.05À0.1 kGy), food inspection (0.01 kGy), microbial disinfection of dried spices (,30 kGy), irradiation of fresh or frozen poultry products (1.5À3 kGy), irradiation of refrigerated and frozen meats (4.5À7 kGy), and sterilization of aseptic packages (Morris et al, 2007;Paul and Takeguchi, 1986). Some of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved applications of irradiation include insect disinfestations (0.2À0.5 kGy), sprout inhibition in potatoes (0.05À0.1 kGy), food inspection (0.01 kGy), microbial disinfection of dried spices (,30 kGy), irradiation of fresh or frozen poultry products (1.5À3 kGy), irradiation of refrigerated and frozen meats (4.5À7 kGy), and sterilization of aseptic packages (Morris et al, 2007;Paul and Takeguchi, 1986).…”

An oral toxicity assessment of a mosquito larvicidal transgenic algae (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) using adult Zebrafish and its embryos

“…It is widely documented that laboratory animals under experimentation cannot be fed solely transgenic feed when investigating the biosafety of transgenic organisms; rather, particular quantities must be generated by mixing the transgenic feed with a conventional diet [ 28 , 29 ]. The true biosafety evaluation could be jeopardised if animals are fed full feed in the lab, regardless of nutritional effects [ 30 , 31 ]. Therefore, the GM algal biomass was tested for repeated sub-chronic oral dosage toxicity at three different concentrations i.e 1x10 5 cells/mL, 2x10 5 cells/mL, and 5x10 4 cells/mL mixed with commercially available feed.…”