Food Irradiation Update is published by the Minnesota Beef Council

Quotable Quotes:
"Food safety issues have been in the news lately. Outbreaks have stimulated greater scrutiny as each incidence of illness occurs. Recently E coli in hamburger and the demand to legalize the sale of raw milk universally are making us examine the debate between ‘the common good’ vs. ‘right to personal choice.’

Standing in the room of the hysterical hamburger hoorah is the John Wayne of solutions … IRRADIATION! That’s right! X ray your ground beef and it eliminates E. coli and salmonella. But standing in the way of this immediate solution are the LUDDITES!"
Baxter Black DVM

"The technology to prevent these large outbreaks of E. coli and salmonella afflicting our food supply has been approved for more than a decade. Government and industry continue to dither while our children are dying. The highest-risk foods -- ground beef and leafy green vegetables -- should be routinely irradiated. Now's the time, isn't it?"
Harry Hull, M.D; Minnesota State Epidemiologist (2000-2006); Letter to the Editor

In This Update:
On the Edge of Common Sense
Emerging Food Safety Issues
Oklahoma Firm Recalls Beef Products Due To Possible E. coli O157:H7 Contamination
Top Food Safety Stories of 2009
FSIS Recall List for 2009
Irradiation Enters Green Energy Discussion
US Agricultural Research Scientists Use Irradiation to Fight Damaging Moths

Important Food Safety Links:

Kansas State University

Marler Blog

Food Irradiation Processors Alliance (FIPA)

The anti-progress Luddites have taken some serious blows in the last six months. A British study shows that animals and crops raised under strict organic parameters, have no nutritional or health benefits over animals and crops grown with FDA/USDA approved insecticides, pesticides, parasitacides, antibiotics, chemical disinfectants and growth stimulants. Then, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative medicine completed a 10-year, 2.5 billion dollar study that determined the unproven, but heavily-promoted benefits of “Alternative Medicine’, for the most part, have zilch medicinal value just as their label proclaims.

Food safety issues have been in the news lately. Outbreaks have stimulated greater scrutiny as each incidence of illness occurs. Recently E coli in hamburger and the demand to legalize the sale of raw milk universally are making us examine the debate between ‘the common good’ vs. ‘right to personal choice.’

Standing in the room of the hysterical hamburger hoorah is the John Wayne of solutions … IRRADIATION! That’s right! X ray your ground beef and it eliminates E. coli and salmonella. But standing in the way of this immediate solution are the LUDDITES! These cautious obstructionists have managed to prevent the use of irradiation, thus the elimination of bacterial poisoning at the source, the packinghouse. Granted, mishandling by retailers and consumers down the line can still allow these potentially disease-causing organisms to propagate, but gosh! Why let them in the backfield if you can stop them at the line of scrimmage? Read more here.....

The technology to prevent these large outbreaks of E. coli and salmonella afflicting our food supply has been approved for more than a decade. Government and industry continue to dither while our children are dying. The highest-risk foods -- ground beef and leafy green vegetables -- should be routinely irradiated. Now's the time, isn't it? DR. HARRY F. HULL, ST. PAUL; MINNESOTA STATE EPIDEMIOLOGIST, 2000-2006

Emerging Food Safety Issues in 2010 (Dec. 29, 2009)

The "Kill Step" Consumer; Food Safety News; By Colin Caywood (December 3, 2009):

Outbreak after outbreak has shown that food companies are not doing a very effective job of achieving this standard, and that something else had to be done to achieve food safety goals while also keeping the cost as low as possible.  This is where you now come in.

Imagine it this way:  you purchase a new, top of the line car and decide to take your family on a weekend road trip to rev the engine and see what it can really do when out on the open road.  As you cruise down the highway, you notice the cars ahead in your lane slowing and depress the brake pedal to match their speed, only to have the pedal snap off at the last moment, leading to a horrible car accident.  Now imagine if the car company said it was your responsibility to perform a final weld on the brake pedal before you used it (didn't you read the manual front to back, dummy?)  In other words, ensuring the safety of your brand spanking new purchase should fall on your shoulders, not theirs.

The study, titled Self-reported and Observed Behavior of Primary Meal Preparers and Adolescents During Preparation of Frozen, Uncooked, Breaded Chicken Products, concluded that safe handling and cooking of frozen, uncooked, breaded chicken rarely occurs, in spite of the preparer's intentions and perceptions about their behavior.  

The researchers used video surveillance equipment to study participants in two model kitchens as they prepared frozen, uncooked, breaded chicken products.  These products were specifically chosen because of the similarity to products implicated in numerous past foodborne illness outbreaks.  The results--noted after monitoring the 41 adult and adolescent consumers prepare the products to a complete, ready-to-eat state--were hardly surprising.

With regard to thermometer use, only 3 of the 41 participants used the digital or dial read food thermometer correctly.  The importance of proper, accurate thermometer readings when cooking raw foods cannot be overstated.  Heating to 165 degrees Fahrenheit in the center of the product is necessary for the end-consumer cooking process to be an effective "kill step." Read more here....

Irradiation Enters Green Energy Discussion; EUNewsNet.com and OfficialWire (December 9, 2009):

The global community can use peaceful nuclear technology to advance sustainable agricultural production and combat climate change, a nuclear agency said. The International Atomic Energy Agency advocated the use of peaceful nuclear technology as away to combat a variety of challenges brought on by global climate change.

The organization pointed to global change as a leading cause of insect and disease damage to crops, advocating irradiation as a means to advance more efficient pest and disease management practices. Read more here....

US Agricultural Research Scientists Use Irradiation to Fight Damaging Moths; December 10, 2009):

James Carpenter and an international team of scientists have turned to a tried-and-true method of pest control: the sterile insect technique (SIT). Using this technique, both male and female insects are irradiated. The female insects are left sterile by the irradiation and are unable to produce offspring. The males are completely or partially sterilized; if they are able to produce offspring, the offspring are sterile. By repeating the process, the target insect population eventually declines. Read more here....