Irradiated food should be a matter of consumer choice, says an advocate for the technology.
Ruth Brinston has spent her career studying and promoting the benefits of radiation processing for food and sterilizing medical supplies. As president of Biovive Consulting, which specializes in irradiation technology, she believes using a controlled amount of energy called ionizing radiation to kill food pathogens could have huge benefits to society.
It is a well established process that could kill all the E. coli 0157:H7 found in ground beef, but she understands some people will not accept it.
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“There is a core group of 10 or 12 percent that will never, ever accept irradiated food,” she told a Canadian Meat Council symposium on food safety held in Toronto Oct. 2-3.
“Food has an emotional attachment for people,” she said.
Irradiation is a cold process and does not make food radioactive. Research shows it does not alter food appearance, taste or texture.
Groups such as the meat council and the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association have lobbied to get it approved with discussions going back to 1998.
The most recent round of submissions for approval went to Health Canada in the spring of 2013. The department said it was reviewing scientific information, and its website said it had completed reviewing four products.
Mangoes, poultry, shrimp and ground beef were being considered, but no approval is forthcoming.
“At this point we are not certain, and it may be that the timeline for approval, which already exceeds 15 years, will be further extended,” said Mark Klassen of the CCA in an email.
