Quotable Quotes:

" In 2007, India exported 160 tonnes of mangoes to US, according to the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB). This year, the export target of mangoes to the US is 2,000 tonnes, a 1,250% jump."Economic Times - Gurgaon, Haryana, India

"Initially, we will start exporting Alphonso, Kesar and Banganpalli from April 1 or 2, 2008."

Santosh Patil, Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board deputy general manager

"I am convinced that food irradiation should be, and ultimately will be, broadly used in the food industry. As that occurs, food irradiation will become one of the pillars of public health, along with chlorination of water, pasteurization of milk and juices and vaccination in the prevention of illness."

Dr. Dennis Olson, Professor, Iowa State University

 ìWe can implement a number of other solutions, but still I think that our children and our children's children will think that eating un-irradiated meat would be barbaric because it's missing the last process for catching pathogens.î

George Sadler

In This Update:

Indian mango export to US set to see big leap

Congress pushes for more irradiation approvals

Media Coverage from Congressional Food Safety Hearing in Washington, DC.

India Mango exports to US likely to swell this year

Marler Blog

Pritzker Blog

Food Irradiation Research and Technology text book now available from IFT & Blackwell Publishing

MUMBAI: Following the US governmentís decision to allow Indian mangoes to enter the US last year, the Indian growers are hoping to reap rich dividends this year with an increase in exports.

The US had given the nod for Indian mangoes last year, nut the exporters could not make use of this in a big way last year. This year, the growers and exporters are planning to increase exports to the US in a big way. The exports will begin from the first week of April, a month earlier than last year.

Exporters are also awaiting the BARCís new irradiation facility at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, to get approval from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

India resumed export of mangoes to the US from April 2007 after a gap of 17 years. The Department of Agriculture has approved the only irradiation facility in India at Lasalgaon in Nashik district.

In 2007, India exported 160 tonnes of mangoes to US, according to the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB). This year, the export target of mangoes to the US is 2,000 tonnes, a 1,250% jump.

The capacity of the Lasalgaon irradiation facility was 8 tonnes per batch which is now down to about 6 tonnes per batch. The BARC has completed setting up of a new irradiation facility at Vashi, but is awaiting the final approval of USDA.

Prospects of exporting mangoes to Japan are also growing. India exported about 26 tonnes of mangoes to Japan last year, where vapour heat treatment (VHT) is essential prior to exporting to that country while irradiation is not required.

Congress pushes for more irradiation approvals; Feedstuffs; By Sally Schuff (March 24, 2008)

Recent outbreaks spur interest in "kill step; Dr. Sundlof predicts decision on leafy greens by October:

A House of Representatives subcommittee, which now has held six hearings aimed at investigating the effectiveness of the U.S. food safety system, has turned its attention to food irradiation as a method to eliminate pathogens that cause foodborne illnesses.

House oversight and investigations subcommittee chairman Rep. Bart Stupak (D., Mich.) said the series of hearings had prompted "concerns about the safety of the nation's food supply. It is necessary to utilize more technology to make our food supply safe." During the hearing, leaders of the subcommittee criticized the Food & Drug Administration's delay in acting on a petition filed eight years ago that would allow irradiation for pathogen reduction on fruits and vegetables and other ready-to-eat foods.

Former head of FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine Dr. Stephen Sundlof, who was named last year to head FDA's Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition, was called on to defend FDA's inaction. In opening the March 12 hearing, Stupak noted, "Proponents of food irradiation believe it is a safe and effective technology that can guarantee the safety of food. Some claim irradiation is the only sensible 'kill step' for leafy greens and meats."

Referring to the fifth hearing in the subcommittee's series, Stupak said the president of Dole Foods had testified that irradiation "was not workable and harmed fresh produce. Rep. John Shimkus (R., Ill.), the subcommittee's ranking Republican, noted that he was interested in "how this kill step could be added in food processing technology to improve food safety."

The subcommittee is part of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, which has jurisdiction on FDA and, as such, launched the hearings to examine possible legislation on food safety. Shimkus reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture model of having food inspectors present in processing plants might serve as "an archetype for FDA, but because of more than 60 recent meat recalls and increased reports of Escherichia coli O157:H7, committee staffers are beginning to question whether or not the inspector-based food safety model works as well as previously thought.

"Does the presence of a meat inspector at every plant actually decrease the likelihood of the presence of these pathogens in a finished product?" Shimkus asked. "If the inspectors cannot see the pathogens, what good does the physical inspection of these products do? Would the inclusion of a kill step like irradiation and more end-product testing be a better use of our limited resources?" he continued.

The subcommittee called on two witnesses: Dr. Dennis Olson, an Iowa State University irradiation expert, and Daniel Wegman, the president of a high-end grocery chain whose stores have featured labeled, irradiated ground beef, along with an educational program to answer shoppers' questions about the technology.  Olson, a professor who commissioned the first electron-beam facility at Iowa State in 1993, testified that irradiation is the kill step to prevent foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157, salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. He cited testimony at the subcommittee's earlier hearings from food industry executives that they lacked such a step. "Those assertions are simply not true," he said.

Citing studies by the U.S. Army Surgeon General, the World Health Organization and Codex Alimentarius attesting to the safety of irradiation, Olson called on Congress and food safety agencies to push for approval of irradiation for all foods.  "Approved uses of irradiation need to be expanded. Regulatory agencies and public health professionals need to actively engage with consumers to educate them about the benefits of the technology," he wrote in his testimony. "Labeling requirements, if needed, should be informative, not alarming."

Olson continued, "I am convinced that food irradiation should be, and ultimately will be, broadly used in the food industry. As that occurs, food irradiation will become one of the pillars of public health, along with chlorination of water, pasteurization of milk and juices and vaccination in the prevention of illness."

Olson passed out bags of irradiated, bagged salad during the hearing to demonstrate its condition. He testified that while FDA approved its use for insect control and shelf-life extension, irradiation is not approved for pathogen reduction.

"That approval should have been granted years ago," he said. Petitions to both FDA and USDA remain "pending" after eight years, even though they were submitted under the expedited review process, he noted.

So far, only ground beef has adequate approvals from the two agencies, and while it is available in markets "in limited amounts," he noted, "none of the major ground beef producers market an irradiated product."

Under questioning during the hearing, Sundlof said the original 1999 petition "involved virtually all foods. ... We took the approach that we would evaluate that petition and look at foods."

During that process, Sundlof said FDA discovered "that in certain foods, the process of irradiation did result in the production of furans, which are cancer-causing chemicals.

"Our approach now is that we are looking at specific types of foods under that petition. The one of highest importance now is leafy green vegetables. It is our number-one priority to get that out," he said.

"We will complete our review ... certainly this fiscal year," Sundlof noted, "and we'll try to do much better than that." When asked if irradiation was safe for leafy greens, he said FDA had found that it would create just "minimal furans." However, he said, finding the furans accounted for the delay.

When asked why many other countries allowed irradiation, which was found safe by WHO and Codex, Sundlof replied, "I don't believe (information on furans) was available to those international organizations when they made their decision."

Next, Wegman, who also chairs the Food Marketing Institute's food safety task force, discussed his company's experience with introducing irradiated ground beef, which is clearly labeled as "irradiated" as part of the company's policy of being up-front with its customers.

Wegman's began successfully marketing irradiated, fresh ground beef in May 2002, he testified. The effort was accompanied by an employee and consumer education program. Market share for the irradiated product reached 5% of the chain's total ground beef sales "and even as high as 10% when the product was aggressively promoted," he noted.

However, "in January 2004, our irradiated fresh ground beef was discontinued following the closing of SureBeam, the irradiation provider," Wegman explained, even though it had developed "a faithful following."

"We received communications from our customers asking that we find an alternative irradiation supplier and reintroduce the product," he added. Wegman's did so in August 2006.  Currently, however, the product sells at a 30- to 40-cent premium to non-irradiated beef, in part because of transportation costs to the irradiation facility, and equals "approximately 1% of total sales. While this is lower than the 5-10% penetration previously achieved, it is increasing," Wegman said.

He testified, "Our irradiated fresh ground beef goes through all of the same in-plant interventions as our non-irradiated ground beef. This includes steam vacuums, organic acid washes and carcass steam pasteurization. In addition, the product is tested negative for E. coli O157 prior to irradiation, so the irradiation is an additional step for safety."

Wegman noted, "When a minimum pathogen reduction is achieved by irradiation, the word 'pasteurization' should be used in labeling to clearly communicate the benefits of irradiation to consumers."

He concluded, "The list of products approved for irradiation should be expanded to include ready-to-eat foods, especially fruits and vegetables."

PUNE : Mango exports from India to the US will begin from the first week of April, a month earlier than last year, and in much larger numbers. However, exporters are waiting for Barcís new irradiation facility at Vashi, Navi Mumbai to get approvals from the US department of agriculture (USDA).

India resumed export of mangoes to the US from April 2007 after a gap of 17 years, since phyto-sanitary issues remained unresolved. The United States department of agriculture has approved the only irradiation facility in India at Lasalgaon in Nashik district.

In 2007, India exported 160 tonnes of mangoes to US, according to the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB). This year, the export target of mangoes to the US is 2,000 tonnes, a 1,250% jump. The capacity of the Lasalgaon irradiation facility was 8 tonnes per batch which is now down to about 6 tonnes per batch. The Barc has completed setting up of a new irradiation facility at Vashi near Mumbai, but is awaiting the final approval of USDA.

ìApeda had convened a meeting of mango exporters from different parts of the country in Mumbai earlier in the week. Initially, we will start exporting Alphonso, Kesar and Banganpalli from April 1 or 2,î said MSAMB deputy general manager Santosh Patil. Other exportable varieties like Chausa and Langra come to market later in the season.

Prospects of exporting mangoes to Japan are also growing. India exported about 26 tonnes of mangoes to Japan last year, where vapour heat treatment (VHT) is essential prior to exporting to that country while irradiation is not required.

ìThis year, our target is to export about 150-200 tonnes to Japan. The Japanese quarantine officers have already come here but the mangoes are not yet ripe,î said Mr Patil.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Two Congressman are giving "thumbs up" to irradiated spinach from Iowa.

The Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved it yet, but the fresh spinach from the Sadex Corporation in Sioux City has the approval of Representatives Bart Stupak and John Shimkus.

Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, and Shimkus, a Republican from Illinois, are members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The spinach they munched on yesterday was brought to Washington D.C. by Iowa State University professor Dennis Olson. He was testifying about the merits of irradiation.

Irradiating food can kill E. coli, salmonella and other harmful bacteria. It's been approved for ground beef, and the FDA is mulling more widespread uses for it. Associated Press - March 13, 2008 2:44 PM ET

Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com

To read the rest of the story and go to:

 Read more....

Recalls Raise Talk Of Mainstreaming Food Irradiation; By Sara Stefanini , sara.stefanini@portfoliomedia.com; Portfolio Media, Inc; (Mar 21, 2008)

The wave of meat and vegetable recalls in the last year has renewed interest in the long-standing yet scarcely used technology known as irradiation. While some caution against this treatment, many food experts point to its stellar safety record as proof enough that it would only help to eviscerate the last remaining pathogens in the U.S. food supply.

In the wake of last month's massive beef recall, the largest in U.S. history, lawmakers have in recent hearings turned their attention to the controversial treatment. Arguing that irradiation's safety is long-established, public health experts have urged Congress to help adjust common misconceptions about the menacing-sounding technology and allow irradiation to enter the mainstream.

ìI have always been a bit surprised that irradiation in food is not used very often, especially in institutional settings such as hospitals, schools and nursing homes, where people are more susceptible,î said Bill Marler, a personal injury partner at Marler Clark LLP, which specializes in representing victims of food contamination. ìThere's such a public perception that irradiation is a bad thing and that you'll glow in the dark or get cancer, and that's what has been driving the market against irradiation."

Irradiated food is briefly exposed to a radiant energy, either gamma rays or electron beams that kills harmful bacteria and viruses. The technology has been compared to pasteurization, which uses heat to destroy pathogens. In an attempt to give it a friendlier name, the government has recently started calling the process ìcold pasteurization.î

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which considers irradiation an additive and therefore regulates its use, approved the treatment for meat, poultry and produce in the early 1990s but imposed labeling requirements and limits on how food can be packaged before it is irradiated.

Scientists have predominantly agreed that irradiation is safe, claiming that at worst, the treatment can lower the amount of nutrients in the food, which also happens when food is stored at room temperature for a few hours after being harvested. The World Health Organization has endorsed the use of irradiation, and almost 40 countries have approved it. Still, not everyone has jumped on the bandwagon in favor of irradiation.

ìUsing recent food-contamination scandals as a springboard, irradiation has been touted as the solution to food-borne illness in everything from spinach to deli meats,î the nonprofit Center For Food Safety has said. ìBut a good hard look at the systematic food and agriculture problems that cause these tragic outbreaks in the first place has yet to be undertaken by government agencies.î

The environmental and public health group has argued that food irradiation can create mutagens such as gene mutations; polyploids, in which cells contain more than two sets of chromosomes; chromosome aberrations, which are often linked to cancerous cells; and dominant lethal mutations, which can prevent a cell from reproducing.

It is this public perception, coupled with the uptick in cost for irradiated food and the red label that clearly marks the treated product with that ominous term, that has made manufacturers reluctant to use the technology.

ìIt's a very useful tool, it can go a long way, I think, but there has to be acceptance of it,î said Catherine Strohbehn, director of the Food Safety Project at Iowa State University. ìConsumers have a right to know that their food has been treated with irradiation, and that has been a stopping point.î

In light of recent high-profile beef, spinach and salad recalls, however, lawmakers in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have brought irradiation to the forefront this year as they look at how to boost the U.S. Department of Agriculture's oversight of food safety. In a hearing before the subcommittee on oversight and investigations, Dennis Olson, an animal science professor at Iowa State University who strongly supports the use of irradiation, noted that the technology is now commonly used to sterilize medical equipment. ìThat same evolution should have occurred in food irradiation, and that it did not happen is quite literally a tragedy,î Olson said. ìThe millions of pounds of contaminated ground beef, lettuce and spinach that have been recalled in the last 18 months, and the sickness and death that accompanied those recalls, would have been prevented if those products had been irradiated.î He and other scientists, personal injury attorneys and food industry executives urged Congress to help sway public opinion about irradiation, particularly as natural and organic food becomes more popular.

ìThe government could have the USDA or FDA make it less of a bright red target,î said Marler, who also testified before the subcommittee. ìThere's been some additional concern this year and some interest in irradiation, but it has really never reached a critical mass. It just hasn't gotten there yet.î The public perception against irradiation, however, is not the only hurdle keeping manufacturers from treating their products. There are very few irradiating plants around the country, meaning that once the food is packaged according to FDA regulations, manufacturers must ship the product somewhere else to be irradiated. This additional cost is reflected in the food's price tag.

ìIf you have a packaging plant in Colorado and have to send the product to Omaha, Neb., to be irradiated, there's the shipping cost and then the cost of the treatment,î said George Sadler, a chemist who started Prove It LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in food processing regulations. ìSo people generally say, 'I've never gotten E. coli poisoning, so why do I have to pay this 15- or 20-cent premium for shipping and processing?'î The shortage of irradiation plants around the country is what forced the supermarket chain Wegmans Food Markets Inc. to temporarily stop selling irradiated fresh ground beef. Wegmans introduced irradiated beef in 2002, with a full-scale publicity campaign that helped assure customers of its safety, Daniel Wegman, the company's chief executive, told the subcommittee on March 12. It had to discontinue the product two years later, when the irradiation plant it used closed down, and reintroduce irradiated ground beef in 2006. At the moment, sales of irradiated meat only make up about 1% of Wegmans' ground beef sales, but that percentage is rising, Wegman said. The beef that has been irradiated costs between 30 and 40 cents more than ground beef that has not been treated, even though the company pays more than that to irradiate the meat, he added.

Other obstacles have also stood in the way of irradiation, according to several experts. When the FDA approved the use of irradiation for meat, poultry and produce in the 1990s, it limited the type of packaging the food can be contained in when it is being treated. The regulations were set with an overly cautious eye towards safety, Sadler said, which made it harder for manufacturers to begin irradiating their food. The regulator has loosened its requirements in recent years, after finding that as long as the packaged food remains oxygen-free as it undergoes irradiation, it can be considered a safe procedure.

However, produce can still only be irradiated at a very low level, and ready-to-eat meat, such as sliced ham or turkey, has not been approved for the procedure, Sadler noted. ìSo Congress could approve it for food more widely,î he said. ìThat will open up a broad segment of the industry that could use irradiation.î Despite the recent big-scale contamination outbreaks, however, many wonder if food irradiation is really essential in the U.S.

Of the 76 million food-borne illnesses that are reported every year, there are 325,000 hospitalizations and about 5,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ìThe U.S. food supply is amazingly safe,î said Richard Frank, a partner at Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz PC who specializes in food and drug labeling, advertising and inspection. About 300 million people in the U.S. eat close to 328 billion meals in one year, Frank calculated. ìHow many incidences does the CDC have of food-based safety concerns? It's minimal. Not to say that you can't do better, but the suggestion that food is not safe is ridiculous.î

Marler disagreed, however, arguing that while the level is low, food contamination does still harm people every year. ìIt's hard for me to look at it on that point, because I have represented thousands and thousands of severely injured people, primarily children, from food-related bacterial and viral illnesses,î he said. ìSo it's hard for me to say it's not a problem.î

Irradiation is an effective kill step that should be used more widely, but it's not the only step that the government should take to ensure that the food supply becomes even safer, Marler and Sadler said. The FDA and USDA should receive more funding to better survey food in order to catch outbreaks before they spread and to boost oversight and enforcement safety standards for food plants.

Although the road to mainstream use is still long and steep for irradiation, many scientists believe that eventually it will be accepted as a necessary food-safety measure, the way pasteurization was accepted long ago. ìWe can implement a number of other solutions, but still I think that our children and our children's children will think that eating un-irradiated meat would be barbaric because it's missing the last process for catching pathogens,î Sadler said.

Investigation of outbreak of infections caused by Salmonella Litchfield, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; http://www.cdc.gov/Salmonella/litchfield/

Centers for Disease Control is collaborating with public health officials in multiple states across the United States and with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Litchfield infections. An investigation that used interviews comparing foods eaten by ill and well persons is showing that cantaloupe from Honduras is the likely source of the illness. Between January 18 and March 5, 2008, state health departments identified 50 ill persons in 16 states infected with Salmonella Litchfield with the same genetic fingerprint. Ill persons with the outbreak strain have been reported from Arizona (1 person), California (10), Colorado (1), Georgia (2), Illinois (1), Missouri (1), New Jersey (2), New Mexico (1), New York (5), Ohio (1), Oklahoma (2), Oregon (5), Tennessee (1), Utah (5), Washington (9), and Wisconsin (3). In addition, 9 ill persons with the outbreak strain have been reported in Canada. Their ages range from <1 to 93 years; 58% are female. At least 14 persons have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.