Regulatory and Toxicological Aspects of Food Irradiation

Abstract

A major difficulty with food irradiation from a regulatorypoint of view is that it is related to many food issues, such as safety, labeling and consumer acceptance. Food that i s intedionully irradiated is judged to be adulterated under current law unless there is a regulation for such use. As a first step in the rulemakingprocess, the Bureau of Foods has developed criteria useful for evaluating the safety of irradiated food by considering present knowledge in radiation chemistry and toxicity testing. These criteria will be used for evaluating existing toxicology studies and for developingpolicy on food irradiation.

Radiation Processing to Improve the Quality of Fishery Products

“…It has been estimated that a dose of 10 kGy may yield 1 millimole of radiolytic products per kg of irradiated food. 275 It has been generally agreed that irradiation of food does not cause formation of unique radiolytic products in amounts that can cause any hazard to the consumer. 316 Considerable amounts of low-molecular-weight gases such as H 2 , CO, CH 4 , and CO 2 are produced by radiolysis of organic components in irradiated foodstuffs.…”

“…Therefore, newer, less expensive, short-term methods have been developed to assess the wholesomeness of irradiated foods. 47,275 These tests evolved with the understanding of genetic material and its response to disturbances. Such tests include chemical changes in DNA, induction of DNA repair, activation of viruses by DNA damages, and chromosomal and nuclear abnormalities.…”