Hum of Interest Builds Around Irradiated Food

The ongoing anthrax scare appears to be helping the nation’s irradiation companies do something they’ve been unable to do themselves: sell consumers on their controversial germ-zapping technology.

Irradiation was has been deemed safe by the government for years, but consumer distrust kept all but some spice companies, fruit importers and a handful of meat and poultry companies from adopting the technology even in the face of a rising number of reported outbreaks of food-borne illness.

Now, as terrorism has raised concerns over food safety and the U.S. Postal Service is using irradiation to sanitize mail, there are some signs that consumers and supermarkets are softening their stance against irradiated food.

Orders for irradiation services from meat and poultry companies are on the rise, and companies have begun using it for fresh as well as frozen food. The military and some food service firms have begun buying irradiated chicken.

Executives at SureBeam, a provider of irradiation services, say major food companies are lining up to test their electron beam process in anticipation of its approval for use on processed foods.

“We had been waiting for that big company or grocery chain to introduce the products� and boost irradiation’s profile and image, said Dennis Olson, SureBeam’s vice president of application. But, he added, they might not have to rely on that. “People are saying that [the Postal Service] is doing the job for us in terms of word of mouth.�

That doesn’t mean consumers are demanding the technology, or that food companies are rushing to zap their entire product lines. But the prospect of eating irradiated food is becoming a little less scary to some consumers.

A survey released last week by the Food Marketing Institute, a supermarket trade group, found that 57% of consumers say they would be open to eating irradiated food, up from 50% five years ago. And the number of people who said they wouldn’t eat it at all declined to 9% from 16% in 1996.

However, most food companies say they don’t believe customers will be clamoring for irradiated food any time soon. Irradiating a letter for anthrax is one thing, food scientists say; asking customers to choose irradiated food is quite another. There are still a few consumers who believe irradiated food is radioactive or toxic.

Irradiation kills pathogens, pests and food-spoilage microorganisms by exposing them to controlled levels of ionizing radiation such as gamma rays, electrons or X-rays.

The radiation passes through the food, disrupting the molecular structure, killing germs, delaying the formation of mold and sterilizing or killing pests.

It does not make food radioactive, and the Food and Drug Administration, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization believe it to be safe.

However, it is still the subject of very vocal criticism from many in the natural foods movement, and irradiation is banned from organic foods under new federal guidelines.

“We are not convinced that it has been proved safe,� said Michael Colby, publisher of Food and Water Journal in Montpelier, Vt. “We think there needs to be more studies on some of the byproducts created when you irradiate food.�

The irradiation process, scientists say, can produce unstable molecules known as free radicals, which, when combined with other food molecules, can create byproducts such as benzene and formaldehyde. But most argue that no more of these are created than in cooking or traditional pasteurization.

Irradiation can also rob food of vitamins, which irradiators acknowledge. However the reduction is small enough, food scientists say, that consumers would have to eat mostly irradiated foods to suffer nutritionally.

With 76 million cases of illness reported each year from salmonella, E. coli bacteria and other pathogens, food companies are looking for more ways to protect themselves, analysts say.

“This just gives producers an extra level of protection,� said analyst Stephen Levenson, with New York-based Gerard Klauer Mattison. “There have been a lot of lawsuits resulting from deaths and illnesses from contaminated food.�

Irradiation also has the dual benefit of giving producers extra time to sell their products. Because irradiation kills spoilage microorganisms, food lasts longer, sometimes twice as long, before spoiling.

Packaged strawberries and mushrooms zapped with radiation last a week or two beyond the usual four to seven days, says Richard Hunter, chief executive of Food Technology Service, a Lakeland, Fla.-based gamma irradiation firm. Irradiated poultry, Olson says, can resist spoilage for more than 25 days between the processing plant and the shopping cart, versus 11 days without treatment.

The drawback is it works only on certain foods and only in certain amounts.

“The major issue now is having a [safe] product that still smells good and tastes good in the end,� said University of Georgia microbiologist Michael Doyle, who heads the Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement. A dose of radiation high enough to kill the most virulent strain of salmonella also would make eggs runny, turn raw chicken pink, wilt lettuce and give many high-fat dairy foods and marbled meat a “wet dog� odor.

Given that, it would take an act of terrorism to get some companies to think about adopting the technology, analysts say.

And history has shown that it usually takes a national catastrophe to persuade the food industry and consumers to embrace new food safety technologies, SureBeam’s Olson said. It took the Jack in the Box E. coli 0157 outbreak in 1993 to push meat companies to adopt new safeguards and to petition the FDA to consider irradiation.

A spiraling number of food recalls for Listeria monocytogenes , salmonella and other germs a couple of years ago prompted other food processors and shellfish purveyors to seek FDA approval to irradiate their products.

Those petitions are still pending. If adopted, consumers could begin to have more of a choice about irradiated food.

“Clearly, with the anthrax scare and the potential for bioterrorism, the food industry is going to give it another look,� said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Even if consumers wanted to purchase irradiated food, most haven’t yet had the option. The flower-like radura symbol used to denote irradiated food has showed up so far on only a small number of imported spices, some fruits and vegetables such as sweet potatoes, papayas and mangoes and frozen burger patties.

That’s slowly changing. Some direct-order companies, such as Omaha Steaks International and Schwan’s, now irradiate all their ground beef.

Huisken Meats has introduced a line of frozen irradiated ground beef under the Huisken BeSure label in 22 states.

And Cargill’s Excel Corp., one of the country’s largest meat packers, has been irradiating its frozen patties and recently ordered equipment to be installed at two of its plants for use on fresh hamburger, SureBeam officials say.

IBP Inc., the nation’s largest meat company, says it is considering expanding the process from frozen patties to fresh burger.

Moreover, a number of independent poultry distributors are beginning to sell irradiated chicken under the Nation’s Pride label to restaurants and food service establishments, where customers probably won’t be aware that the product has been irradiated.

To accommodate this sudden growth, SureBeam just opened a $12-million food-processing plant in Chicago and is set to open another food-treating facility in Vernon, south of downtown Los Angeles, in coming months.

Consumer groups and food scientists say they are more concerned about the way food companies will use irradiation, rather than its effects.

Doyle said he is worried that meat companies will use irradiation and bill products as “pasteurized� or “germ-free� after using the process only in low doses to kill less virulent strains of pathogens.

And many food safety experts worry that large companies will use the germ-zapping technology as an excuse to become lax in their plant sanitation and food safety procedures. “The best in the industry will do the right thing, but it also leaves a door open for people with bad practices,� DeWaal said.

In most cases, the benefits outweigh these risks, she said. Irradiation could prove useful in preventing listeriosis in low-fat luncheon meat, hot dogs and other processed, vacuum-packed food. And it could help make loosely regulated seafood, such as shellfish, safer.

“In the long run, I think irradiation will probably be accepted,� DeWaal said. “Consumers now have a better understanding of why this technology could be valuable.�

Indeed, Food Technology’s Hunter said he thinks the perception of risk has changed in light of recent warnings about the safety of the food supply. “These days people seem more concerned with the practical aspects [of food safety] rather than the theoretical.�

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Zapping Food

Consumer distrust has prevented the widespread irratiation of food, but the continuing anthrax scare may soften that stance.

Approved for irradiation:

Poultry

Pork

Hamburger

Fresh fruits and vegetables

Herbs and spices

Potatoes

Wheat and wheat flour

Awaiting approval

Ready-to-eat foods such as luncheon meat, hot dogs, cooked deli foods

Crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters and shrimps

Mollusks such as clams, oysters and scallops

Eggs

Benefits

* Kills illness-causing bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes

* Kills insects and other pests

* Destroys spoilage microorganisms such as mold so food lasts longer

Disadvantages

* Doesn’t kill viruses

* Slight vitamin loss

* Irradiation can create minute amounts of byproducts such as benzene and formaldehyde, but at levels not higher than produced during cooking or pasteurization.

* High doses required for virulent bacteria such as Salmonella may change the flavor and color of some foods, and give fatty foods a rancid odor.

Source: FDA, National Food Processors Assn.