Food Irradiation: Proposed Regulatory Changes

This content was archived on June 24, 2013.

Darren Leyte
Food Directorate, Health Canada

Food Irradiation Regulatory Proposals

Health Canada has received submissions to allow irradiation of four new commodities:

• fresh and frozen ground beef;
• fresh and frozen poultry;
• prepackaged fresh, frozen, prepared and dried shrimp and prawns; and
• mangoes

Food Irradiation: Current Regulations

Under Division 26 of F&D Act and Regs

• "Enabling Regulations" require industry to make submissions to allow new uses of food irradiation
• New listings only after safety assessment
• Only listed items may be irradiated
• Currently, this list includes: potatoes, onions, spices, dehydrated seasonings, wheat, flour and whole wheat flour

What can Food Irradiation do?

• Improve the safety of food by reducing levels of pathogens associated with food-borne disease such as E. coli and Salmonella.
• Reduce microbiological growth causing spoilage and, thereby, extend shelf-life.
• Reduce insect infestation.
• Delay ripening of fruit and vegetables.

Division 26: Data Requirements

• Purpose and details of irradiation including source, frequency, maximum and minimum dose
• Details of any chemical, physical, nutritional and microbiological changes
• Data on safety of irradiated food
• Details of processing, storage and shipment of the irradiated product
• Any other data required by the evaluation team

Food Safety Assessment

• A team of Health Canada scientists evaluate
  • chemical changes of toxicological importance in the irradiated food,
  • effect of irradiation on significant nutrients,
  • efficacy of irradiation in reducing microorganisms.
• Evaluation Approach: "Overall Weight of Evidence" which considers the benefits as well as alternative processing methods

Chemistry: factors considered

• Chemical assessment of new compounds formed in the irradiated product.
• Toxicity of any new compounds is evaluated for any potential health impacts.

Chemical Assessment: Conclusions

• Minute proportion of a food is affected chemically by the radiation.
• Chemical compounds formed by irradiation are found in extremely small quantities (ppb).
• Overall weight of evidence indicates that these new compounds do not pose a risk to human health.

Nutritional Quality: factors considered

• Nutritionally significant nutrients are studied to see the effects of irradiation.
• Examination of:
  • macronutrient levels (fat, protein, carbohydrates),
  • macronutrient components (fatty acids, amino acids),
  • micronutrients.
• If there is a loss of nutritional value:
  • the extent of the loss is determined;
  • the impact of the nutrient loss in the diet of people who eat the food is studied.

Sensitivity of Nutrients

• Vitamins are most sensitive
  • most sensitive: thiamin and vitamin E
  • intermediate: vitamin C, A, K and D, riboflavin, vitamin B6
  • least sensitive: vitamin B12, niacin, biotin, pantothenic acid and folate
• Minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats
  • Little impact of irradiation, from a nutritional perspective, even at high doses.

Nutrition Assessment: Conclusions

• In the four commodities studied:
  • Only thiamin, riboflavin and niacin losses were observed.
• None of the nutrient losses were considered nutritionally significant.

Microbiological Issues

• The cost of foodborne illness is estimated to be over $1B/yr and 85 % of these illnesses are of microbial origin
• Highest risk foods are:
  • raw foods of plant or animal origin,
  • prepared foods contaminated by raw foods.
• Considerable laboratory data support the effectiveness of irradiation in reducing the bacterial load in high risk foods

Microbiological Issues (continued)

• Irradiation processes can target the organisms of greatest concern.
• Not all microorganisms are killed at the levels proposed.
• Storage and packaging of irradiated food reviewed to ensure proper handling post- irradiation.

Microbiological Assessment

• The microbiological review is interested in the effect of the irradiation on pathogens.
• At what dose are the pathogens killed thus reducing the risks of foodborne illness.
• Efficacy of irradiation in reducing microrganisms and its impact on those that survive irradiation.

Microbiological Assessment: Conclusions

• Evidence reviewed demonstrates that, at the proposed dose, irradiation was effective in killing pathogens.
• Proper storage and packaging are utilized to ensure that competitive bacteria do not pose a risk to health.

Overall Evaluation Conclusions

• Consumption of these irradiated foods would not result in risk to the consumer.
• Irradiation of these foods would not result in significant reduction of nutrients.
• Food irradiation could improve food safety and quality of these food products by reducing levels of pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella, extending shelflife and reducing insect infestation.

Next steps

• Regulatory amendments are proposed to allow these new uses of food irradiation as there are no health concerns.
• The public's views on health issues is important to Health Canada's policy development and decision- making.
• As part of the regulatory process, we are engaging the Canadian public to comment on these proposals.

Additional Comments

Health Canada welcomes comments at:

Bureau of Food Regulatory, International and Interagency Affairs
Health Canada
Address Locator 0702C1
Ottawa, Canada
K1A 0L2
or by e-mail at food-aliment@hc-sc.gc.ca.

Additional information on food irradiation can be found on the Health Canada Web site at: www.hc-sc.gc.ca