Worldwide, irradiation sterilization has been approved by more than 40 countries, of which 2 1 countries are widely used. About 40 kinds of food are allowed to be sterilized by irradiation, with an annual processing capacity of about 500,000 tons. Different from thermal sterilization, irradiation sterilization is called "cold sterilization" in the industry.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the application of irradiation sterilization to kill Trichinella spiralis in pork on 1985. Five years later, FDA approved irradiation sterilization of poultry meat. It was not until 1993 that the USDA approved this application. 1997 FDA approved the application of irradiation sterilization to red meat, but USDA has not yet approved the application.
In Europe, although some countries have irradiated poultry meat and seafood, there is no precedent for irradiation of red meat, and there is no relevant regulation in the EU. It is said that Council of Europe is formulating regulations and standards for irradiated foods used in European countries. It is expected that these regulations and standards will be formally implemented in 2000. At the same time, Council of Europe has drawn up a list of foods that can be sterilized by irradiation. Only herbal food ingredients and condiments are officially approved for use.
If the implementation scope of these regulations does not exceed the existing regulations, France, Belgium and the Netherlands will stop irradiating poultry meat products, and of course, red meat products will not be irradiated and sterilized.
Dr AndySpry, Marketing Manager of Isotron Company in the UK, said that the biggest problem in promoting irradiation sterilization is consumers' concerns. He said that it is difficult to convince the public and food distributors that the irradiation sterilization system is safe. Some large distributors once realized that irradiation sterilization technology is safe, but because of fierce market competition, they only care about their own market share, operating costs and risks, and have not seen the benefits of irradiation sterilization. They only pay attention to non-irradiated products, and no one wants to be the first in the application of irradiation sterilization technology. However, the topic of irradiation sterilization has changed from "whether it is safe" to "whether it is necessary to adopt it".
Dr CathieDeeley, manager of market development department of Puridec Company, one of the two suppliers in the world who can provide radioactive source cobalt 60 rods for irradiation plants, said, "All that can be done and said about the safety of irradiation sterilization has been done. What you can do now is not to stop and continue to promote. "
These people in the industry all said that the scale of food irradiation sterilization is too small, and a company with market appeal is needed to take the lead, and the whole food industry also needs a promotion campaign.
At 1998, the 5th annual European meat processing conference "Meat98", Mr. RogerLangley of Puridec Company pointed out that without necessary publicity and training, what we definitely heard from consumers was that "natural food is safe and irradiated food is unsafe". In fact, on the contrary, some natural foods are not as safe as irradiated foods. We will carry out well-designed publicity activities to introduce the actual needs and benefits of radiation preservation according to product categories, so as to let the public know its value to consumers and food processing industry.
Mr. E.W.PeteEllis, President and CEO of FoodTechnologyService Company, is cooperating with ColoradoBoxedBeef Company to promote the irradiation sterilization of red meat. He said that consumer training needs the support and guidance of public health officials. I don't believe that large poultry producers will hesitate to apply irradiation technology, but their logic is still cautious,' he said. It's like they say they won't provide irradiated food until consumers need it. This is a bit divorced from reality. Because consumers' needs can only be known if they are displayed in the market. Therefore, new products should be listed first. Isn't this a bit like a philosophical question "which came first, the chicken or the egg"? 1896-mink Experiments prove that X-rays are fatal to protozoa.
192 1 year-Schwartz used X-rays to kill Trichinella spiralis in meat, and obtained an American patent.
1930- Hurst (Wüst) confirmed that all foods packed in sealed metal cans can be irradiated with powerful roentgen rays, which can kill all bacteria, and obtained a French patent.
After World War II-with the wide application of radioisotopes and the emergence of mechanical radiation sources such as electron accelerators, the development of irradiated food was promoted.
1953-Eisehower urges the us military to study food irradiation in depth.
1957- The U.S. military initiated a five-year irradiated food research project, and invested a lot of manpower and material resources.
1960- irradiated food is tried in the us military.
1963- the first international conference on irradiated food was held in natick laboratory of the us army.
1965- Canada establishes the world's largest potato irradiation plant.
1970- Experts from FAO/IAEA/WHO made an international plan (IFIP) in the field of food irradiation at the Geneva meeting.
1976- FAO believes that five irradiated products (namely potatoes, wheat, chicken, papaya and strawberries) are absolutely safe.
1978- There are 80 60Co factories in the world for radiation disinfection and sterilization (60 of them are used for medical disinfection).
1980- FAO/IAEA/who meeting considered that the average absorbed dose of irradiated food was 10 kilogy (kGy) or lower, and there was no toxicity hazard, so it was unnecessary to conduct toxicity test again.
1988- There are 182 60Co factories used for radiation disinfection and sterilization in the world, and the global output of irradiated food is about 500,000 tons.
After 1997-WHO further canceled the upper limit of 10 kGy, and the International Commission on Food Regulations (CAC) successively put forward general standards and regulations for irradiated foods. 1958- Start food irradiation research.
In the mid-1970s, many areas in China carried out research on irradiated preserved foods, including meat, aquatic products, fruits, dried fruits, vegetables, grains and eggs.
1980s-food irradiation has entered a certain production stage.
In the early 1990s, nearly 150 irradiation devices were built in China, among which more than 50 devices with the designed installation energy of1.1.6×1.01.6 trillion times can be installed.
1984 ~ 1997- The Hygienic Standard for Food Irradiation issued by the Ministry of Health basically covers most foods.