Irradiated food and its safety

Irradiated food and its safety, life, speaking of irradiated food, may be many people do not have a deep understanding of it. And irradiated food more and more into people's field of vision, many people are very concerned about its safety. The following is irradiated food and its safety content!

Irradiated food and its safety 1

In recent years, irradiated food more and more into people's horizons. Thus, irradiation treatment of food after the original molecules and atoms will be destroyed; irradiated food will be stimulated and produce sense of radiation, which in turn affects the health and safety of food has been a matter of concern.

In fact, all foods are radioactive. Studies have shown that irradiated food is unlikely to produce sensitized radioactivity, so there is absolutely no need for consumers to worry.

Experts also explained that:

First, irradiation does not cause toxic changes in food components that would adversely affect human health; second, irradiated foods do not pose microbiological hazards; and finally, irradiated foods do not lead to loss of nutrient supply to people.

Many scientific practices have shown that irradiated fish can be transported over long distances without refrigeration without deterioration; meat can be stored for several months without refrigeration and chemical treatment; and the freshness period of vegetables can be extended by one to two months.

After years of experimental research, experts said: "After a moderate, reasonable irradiation of food, will not induce cancer, and will not pose a hazard to human health.

Now, irradiated food has been in the U.S. military and astronauts in a large number of applications, there has not been an accident. Experts and scholars from various countries on the issue of whether irradiation technology is safe, have done extensive research and testing, the results show that irradiated food is harmless to the human body.

Recently, about irradiation caused by changes in food composition, nutritional value of the literature more and more, to summarize the results of the existing research.

We can conclude that: conventional dose, irradiation-induced chemical changes within the food is negligible, sterilization dose caused by chemical changes is also very small.

In general, it is difficult to measure, only in the role of strong irradiation caused by changes in food composition and nutritional value. And this strong irradiation over the sterilization dose in the food irradiation treatment is usually not used.

Whether irradiated food can cause toxic effects on human health is also of particular concern.

At present, experts have conducted a series of toxicological studies on irradiated food from four aspects: carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, cytotoxicity, and teratogenicity, etc., and raised more than two kinds of animals with irradiated food, and after four generations of reproduction tests, more in-depth and comprehensive studies on irradiated food from the point of view of toxicology and microbiology.

A large number of long-term and repeated animal tests have shown that irradiated food does not have harmful effects within a certain dosage range, and that not all of the decomposition products generated are harmful to human health, and that some hazardous substances can also appear in food treated by other processing methods.

What we said above about the hygiene and safety of irradiated food is the basic content of the national law on irradiated food, but the irradiation dose standard is different in each country, the recognition of irradiated food conditions and regulations are also different, the consumer should have a clear understanding.

irradiated food and its safety2

First, the principle of irradiation

Food irradiation technology is a sterilization and preservation technology developed in the 20th century. It is based on radiation processing technology, the use of X-ray, γ-ray or high-energy electron beams and other ionizing radiation generated by high-energy rays on food processing.

In the process of energy transfer and transfer, produce powerful physical and chemical effects and biological effects, so as to achieve insecticide, sterilization, inhibit the physiological process, improve the quality of food hygiene, maintain the nutritional quality and flavor and extend the shelf life of the purpose.

Food irradiation to reduce the loss of agricultural products and food, improve food quality, control foodborne diseases and other unique technical advantages, more and more by the world's attention. Food irradiation processing technology has become one of the effective measures to ensure food safety in the 21st century.

Second, the development of irradiation

The first stage, that ionizing radiation is a new food additives

Food irradiation disinfection technology as early as the 20's after the discovery of the X-ray has been explored. The United States in the 1940s began a systematic research and application;

1958, the U.S. Congress enacted an amendment to the Food, Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations, from the legal determination of ionizing radiation is a new food additives, food irradiation around the world has had a positive . Impact.

But from now on, it is incorrect to classify ionizing radiation as a food additive, because food irradiation does not add any substance to the food, but causes some kind of chemical change in the food; baking, deep-frying, canning, microwaving, irradiation, freeze-drying, and so on, can cause these changes, and should be classified as a process.

Subsequently, countries have invested a lot of money and manpower to research on the health and safety of irradiated food, while the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have convened a number of international scientific seminars on irradiated food, the safety of irradiated food for discussion.

The second stage confirms that food irradiation does not belong to the category of additives and is used in commercial food

In 1976, food experts from various countries confirmed that food irradiation is different from chemical processing and does not belong to the category of additives in the "International Joint Expert Committee on Irradiated Foods". Additives category, the first unconditional approval of chicken, papaya, potatoes, strawberries and wheat and other five kinds of irradiated food;

At the same time also tentatively approved irradiated rice, fish and onions for human consumption. Three more irradiated foods, spices, enzymes and fresh pork, were then approved.

Stage 3: Safety recognized and regulations enacted

In 1980, JECFA confirmed that "any food irradiated with less than 10 kGy for storage purposes is no longer required to be irradiated. ...... no longer requires toxicological testing for any food irradiated to less than 10 kGy for storage purposes".

In 1983, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) of the FAO and WHO formally issued the General Code of Practice for Irradiated Foods, which provides the basis for the development of hygienic regulations for irradiated foods in various countries.

The earliest country in the world to formally approve irradiated food for human consumption was the former Soviet Union (Potato Inhibition of Sprouting, March 1958), followed by Canada, the United States, and so on.

The fourth stage Commercial food irradiation plant was established, irradiated food gradually increased

In 1991, the first commercial food irradiation plant opened in Tampa, Florida, USA. At present, there are 38 countries in the world have officially approved 224 kinds of irradiated food standards.

China's food irradiation research began in 1958, when the Isotope Committee of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Organization of food and other ministries under the 12 units of the "food irradiation preservation research collaborative group", the irradiation of rice to kill worms, potatoes, irradiation inhibition of germination, etc. carried out a planned research.

At present, there are about nearly a hundred kinds of irradiated food through the identification, to 1998, the state has promulgated and approved the 6 categories of irradiated food hygiene standards, in 28 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to establish more than 50 commercial-scale irradiation devices, to the end of 2002, has reached 64 seats.

Food irradiation scale is expanding, in 1999 the irradiation amount has reached 86 million t, in 2002 more than 100,000 t, ranked first in the world; consumer acceptance of irradiated food is good, China's food irradiation has entered the stage of commercialization and application.

Third, irradiated food safety

The health and safety of irradiated food, is the most concerned about the problem. Consumers are generally fearful of irradiation, irradiated food treated with radioactive hazards?

Food irradiated, will not induce radioactivity? There is no radioactive residue?

(a) Microbiological safety

People are concerned about foodborne diseases. Microorganisms in food such as Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli, etc. are more sensitive to irradiation, and can be eliminated with a dose of less than 10kGy. Irradiation kills the pathogenic bacteria and does not pose a food safety problem.

Based on the results of more than 30 years of research in various countries, the Joint Expert Committee organized by FA0/WHO/IAEA declared in October 1980 that any irradiated food with an absorbed dose of less than 10 kGy is safe, and that no toxicological tests are required.

(2) Loss of nutrients during irradiation

Nutrient testing of irradiated food shows that low-dose irradiation does not lead to significant loss of nutritional quality of the food, and that proteins, sugars, and fats in the food are kept relatively stable, and essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, minerals, and trace elements will not be too great. The essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, minerals and trace elements will not have too much loss.

The results of nutritional hygiene and radiation chemistry of irradiated food show that after irradiation of food, the types of radiation degradation products and the content of toxic substances and conventional cooking methods are not essentially different.

Irradiation ionization can be directly caused by biological effects, it has been proved that it can inhibit the growth of irradiated food after harvest (mushrooms), to prevent germination (potatoes), insecticidal sterilization, passivation of enzyme activity (all food), thus achieving the extension of the freshness of the food or the purpose of long-term storage.

It can be assumed that the changes in the chemical composition of food irradiation treatment are not harmful to human health, and will not change the overall balance of microbial colonies in food, and will not lead to a significant loss of nutrients in food

. However, the production of nutrients and their by-products from high-dose irradiation has not yet been detected by humans. As a result, the detection technology is still in need of further improvement and enhancement.

(3) Labeling of Irradiated Foods

Under the general labeling requirements, FDA believes it is necessary to inform consumers that irradiated foods have been irradiated because irradiation affects the characteristics of the food, just as any other process does.

For products that do not show obvious signs of processing, such as when the food as a whole has been irradiated, FDA requires that the irradiated food be labeled with the irradiation marking and the words "processed by irradiation" or "irradiated".

If an irradiated ingredient is added to an unirradiated food, special labeling on the retail package is not required because the food is clearly processed.

However, for foods that are not on the retail market and have the potential to be further processed, special labeling is required to ensure that the food has not been irradiated multiple times. In addition, FDA encourages manufacturers to include truthful statements on the label, such as the purpose for which the food was irradiated.

Four types of irradiated food

At present, the world has 42 countries and regions approved more than 240 irradiated agricultural products and food, irradiated food market each year, the total amount of sales of 20 × 104 tons.

The types of irradiated food has increased year by year, as of 2005, China's irradiated food types have reached seven categories of 56 varieties, mainly:

① grains, beans and their products irradiated insecticidal;

② dried fruit, dried fruit irradiated insecticidal sterilization;

③ cooked livestock and poultry meat irradiation preservation of freshness;

④ frozen packaged livestock and poultry meat Irradiation preservation;

⑤ dehydrated vegetables, condiments, spices and tea irradiation sterilization;

⑥ fruits, vegetables irradiation preservation;

⑦ fish, shellfish irradiation sterilization and so on.

irradiation technology in other applications include

① patient food, aerospace food, camping food, etc., must be clean and sterile, and some countries on the implementation of ray irradiation;

② packaging containers are also sterilized with rays;

③ feed can be used to sterilize the rays, and at present, European Developed countries are almost all in the animal feed irradiation sterilization treatment.

After nearly half a century of research and practice, food irradiation processing technology in the solution of food without loss or reduction of loss, reduce energy consumption and chemical treatment of food caused by drug residues and environmental pollution, and improve the quality of food hygiene and prolonged storage and supply, has a unique role.

Irradiation can kill pathogenic microorganisms and parasites parasitized on the surface of the product, but also kill the internal pathogenic microorganisms and pests, and inhibit their physiological activities, fundamentally eliminating the root cause of product mold and deterioration, and achieve the purpose of ensuring product quality and food safety.

Food irradiation technology has become an effective way to reduce post-production losses, reduce foodborne illnesses and solve problems related to food safety.