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irradiation questions




Hello saneters,
 
According to a source that quotes the CFR the FDA committee recommended
that foods irradiated at doses below 100,000 rads be considered safe for
human consumption without the requirement of toxicological testing.

US Food and Drug Administration
Final Rule, April 18, 1986
Federal Register (21 CFR Part 179-
Part 179-Part III), 51 (75): 13,377

according to the tables I have typed in below ( remember 1 kiloGray =
100,000 rads) the FDA should thus test all those foods that recieve doses
higher than that.

Since irradiation is a food additive, the 100 fold concentration rule for
testing would normally apply to its safety testing, but this is not done
for irradiated food. I have read that it is impratical to concentrate
radiolytic products in foods for testing. Is this so and why?

Another sources say the FDA has set the safety limit for radiolytic
products at 3 ppm.


Also, has the FDA ammended the CFR citation in anyway since
then?



Product			Purpose of irradiation	Dose permitted	date of rule
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wheat			disinfest insects	0.2-0.5	August 21, 1963
wheat powder	

potatoes		extend shelf life	0.05	November 1, 1965
						-0.15

Spices			Decontamination		30 max	July 15, 1983
			disinfest insects		

Dry, dehydrated		control insect,		10 max	June 10, 1985
enzyme preparations	microorganisms


Pork carcasses fresh 	control Trichinella	0.3	July 22, 1985
noncut processed cuts				- 1.0


Fresh fruits	 	Delay maturation	1	April 18, 1986


Dry or dehydrated	Decontamination		10	April 18, 1986
enzyme preparations


Dry or dehydrated	Decontamination		30	April18, 1986
aromatic vegetable

Poultry			Control illness		3	May 2, 1990
			-causing microbes




Teige Davidson
Tufts University