Quotable Quotes:
The interest from processors of human consumables, as well as animal consumables has been incredibly strong.  Both businesses and consumers are becoming increasingly interested in this safe and inexpensive way to increase food safety.”

Harlan Clemmons, President, Sadex Corporation
 

In This Update:

Tiny Label on Irradiated Fruit Angers Environmental Group

Phytosan S.A de C.V Moves Forward With Irradiation Facilities in Mexico

Sioux City, Iowa Sees Major Rebirth In Breakthrough Food Technology
Parents issue warning about E. Coli
Alert of tainted beef came a month after report of first Alberta E. Coli case

Irradiated Australian mangoes have, according to this story, returned to New Zealand shops-but with only miniscule labeling to say they have been irradiated on their way to the fruit bowl.

The environmental group Friends of the Earth was cited as saying consumers risk not only cell damage from eating the fruit, but also eye-strain from trying to make out letters 0.5mm wide, no thicker than paper-clip wire.

Northern Territory mangoes first appeared in Fruit World stores round Auckland with yellow and green stickers, no larger than small postage stamps but with clear lettering declaring they had been "irradiated to protect the New Zealand environment".

But Friends of the Earth co-director Bob Tait was cited as saying the stores have in recent weeks been stocking mangoes without that sticker, relying instead on a tiny reference to "irradiated fruit" squeezed on a smaller label advertising the grower's brand.

That label was on the earlier fruit, but without the irradiation message. Importer Fusion Marketing of Pukekohe says the Australian grower, Tou's Garden, is simply saving costs from needless duplication.

Mr Tait, who initially thought there was no irradiation labeling and had to use glasses to read the new wording when the Herald drew it to his attention, said the Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Code was remiss in not stipulating a minimum size. But he said the code still required irradiated food to be "prominently" labeled, and claimed the mangoes were therefore being sold illegally.

Food Safety Authority spokesman Gary Bowering was cited as saying the irradiation wording was larger than marketing statements on the same sticker, adding, "Our opinion is that it is perfectly fine," while noting that anyone was entitled to lodge a complaint with Auckland Regional Public Health.

Although the Food Safety Authority has said "hundreds" of reports have shown irradiation to be safe, US group Public Citizen claims it produces toxic chemicals.

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Phytosan S.A de C.V Moves Forward With Irradiation Facilities in Mexico: From a Press Release: PHYTOSAN S.A. de C.V. announced on November 16, 2005 that it has received the license for construction of our gamma facility in Matehuala, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, from the Mexican Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards (CNSNS) The permit number A00.200/1375/2005 covers the installation of a NORDION JS10000 irradiator with a 2MCI cobalt 60 maximum activity and is valid through 11/14/2006.

The plant was conceived jointly with the National Plant Protection Organization and will primarily serve as phytosanitary treatment facility for fruits and vegetables to be transported into the restricted areas in the north of Mexico as well as for the export to the U.S. The facility is to be operational within the year 2006. A second facility planned for the Mexican state of Jalisco, is to be commissioned early in 2007.

PHYTOSAN S.A. de C.V. tiene el gusto de anunciar el recibo del permiso para la construcciÛn de un sistema de irradiaciÛn tipo gamma por parte de la ComisiÛn Nacional de Seguridad Nuclear y Salvaguardias. El permiso con numero A00.200/1375/2005 es valido para la instalaciÛn de sistema NORDION JS10000 con una actividad de hasta 2MCI de cobalto 60 y tiene vigencia hasta el 14 de noviembre 2006.  La planta ser· operacional para fines del aÒo 2006. La planta se concibiÛ junto con la DirecciÛn General de Sanidad  Vegetal y se dirigir· principalmente a tratamientos cuarantenarios para la movilizaciÛn nacional de fruta hospedera a la mosca de la fruta tanto que para la exportaciÛn de dichos productos a los Estados Unidos Norteamericanos. Una segunda planta esta planeada para el estado de Jalisco a principios del 2007. Para mas informes ponerse en contacto con: Arved Deecke, Director General, PHYTOSAN S.A. de C.V. at e-mail:  arved.deecke@phytosan.com  

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Sioux City, Iowa - This week the Sadex Corporation began testing commercial products for processors all over the upper Midwest in preparation to begin using SureBeam cutting-edge electronic pasteurization technology to kill food-borne pathogens and extend product shelf life.  Sadex is a Texas-incorporated company based in Sioux City.

Company Chairman David A. Corbin said, "With all the events in the news such as bio-terrorism, the Avian flu, agricultural competition from foreigners, along with many others, this technology helps to insure a safer food supply, as well as provide Americas farmers and processors another "arrow in their quiver” against foreign competition in the global marketplace.”  Company President Harlan Clemmons added, "The interest from processors of human consumables, as well as animal consumables has been incredibly strong.  Both businesses and consumers are becoming increasingly interested in this safe and inexpensive way to increase food safety.”

 The companys plant, which is located in the southern part of Sioux City in the Cloverleaf Cold Storage complex, was the most successful plant of the SureBeam Corporation, a publicly traded company based in San Diego.  The plant was idled by the January 2004 bankruptcy of SureBeam until Sadex reopened the plant at the end of June.

Sadex President Harlan Clemmons said, "When SureBeam Corporation went bankrupt, it left many Midwestern producers in a vulnerable position.  A lot of people worked very hard so that Sadex Corporation could have the opportunity to acquire and re-start this business.  It is our desire to have many of these market leaders back using the plant in the very near future.”  Sadex Chairman David A. Corbin concurred, saying, "Iowa is a wonderful place for business, but Sioux City is perfect for what we are trying to accomplish.  Iowa has one of the most well-educated and productive workforces in the world.  Sioux City not only has a great agricultural tradition, but also has the workers that we need to perform the many high tech aspects of our business.  Many Americans see food as a low-tech business, but increasingly in todays world, highly knowledgeable and well-qualified people are needed.  Sioux City and Siouxland has those in abundance.”

For more information, please contact Melissa Villegas at 800-490-9333 or Melissa Haggin at 888-44-SADEX.

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The parents of three-year-old Hillary Nelson, who has been on dialysis in BC Children's Hospital for more than a week after eating a meal contaminated by E. coli bacteria, have, according to these stories, issued a warning about the danger of cross-contamination from packaged meat.
 

The stories note that Hillary's condition was upgraded Friday to good, which means she is comfortable, her vital signs are stable and within normal limits, and her indicators for recovery are excellent. She is one of eight people in B.C. and 15 in Alberta that were recently diagnosed with E. coli.

In a statement circulated by Children's Hospital, Brad and Cheryl Nelson were cited as indicating that the E. coli bacteria that caused their daughter's kidneys to shut down completely may have come from a leaking package of bloody meat, adding, "We want other parents to know that eating undercooked meat isn't the only way to contract E. coli. Most people don't realize that you an pick up E. coli through cross-contamination by handling a meat package with blood on it, or on a surface someone who has handled a leaky meat package has then touched afterwards, like the handle of a shopping cart. … We don't want this to happen to anyone else's son or daughter. Most people don't realize that you can also pick up E. coli through cross-contamination by handling a meat package with blood on it.... We believe there is a way to limit this risk. We think grocery stores can use packaging that does not allow blood from the meat inside to escape."

They called on the grocery industry to use packaging that does not allow blood to escape from meat, and called for further microanalysis of meat prior to packaging.
The release did not indicate the method by which they believe E. coli bacteria contaminated their meal.

Garfield Balsom, a spokesman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in Ottawa, was cited as saying the two main points regularly made by CFIA to consumers are to cook ground meat to an internal temperature of 71 degrees Celsius and to avoid cross-contamination, adding, "If you handle a utensil that's cutting the meat, don't use the same utensil on your fresh produce. Wash your hands if you use a plate to put your meat on, and when you discard your packaging material."

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CALGARY -- Health officials were cited as saying it took more than a month after Calgary's first case of E. coli was detected before the public was alerted to the problem.
Alberta Health spokesman Howard May was cited as saying that from the first symptoms to assessing provincial lab results and tracing where the infection came from is a long drawn-out process that was completed as quickly as possible in Calgary's most recent outbreak, adding, "When you eat infected food, it can take a week for the E. coli symptoms to show up. Especially when you're dealing with teens, it can take another week to see a doctor, a week to get the lab results back and then another week to get the provincial lab results back which brings us to right about now.""

Dr. Judy MacDonald, deputy medical officer of health for the Calgary Health Region, was cited as saying the first case was reported on Oct. 12 and the last was at the end of October.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency sent out a warning Wednesday that ground beef bought between Oct. 6 and Oct. 20 from Canada Safeway stores in Alberta and Saskatchewan may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria.
Calgary Health Region officials said at least eight cases of E. coli were reported in the city from the contaminated beef and five others were in British Columbia.

While admitting tracking the source can be difficult, Alberta Children's Hospital pediatric nephrologist Dr. Julian Midgley was cited as saying that doing so as quickly as possible can drastically reduce the number of people getting sick, adding, "It's a concern to inform people as quickly as possible when someone knows something is going on so other people can avoid getting it."

Safeway Alberta spokeswoman Betty Kellsey was cited as saying the contamination was traced to Safeway's Lucerne meat processing plant in Calgary, adding, "We can't say where it might have come from before that."

Garfield Balsom of CFIA's Office of Food Safety and Recall, was cited as saying the source of where the Safeway meat was contaminated has been identified and eliminated, adding, ""We have traced back the product to the extent that we have been able to remove the source and have no reason to believe there will be further problems."

Three-and-a-half-year-old Hillary Nelson remains on kidney dialysis in Children's Hospital in Vancouver more than a week after eating a meal contaminated with E. coli bacteria, but her one-year-old sister has made a quick recovery.

The two children, who live on a quiet cul-de-sac in Ladner, are among eight B.C. residents who became ill as a result of E. coli contamination.

Dr. Morrison Hurley, a kidney specialist at Children's Hospital, was cited as saying the E. coli bacterium, affects people differently, and that the two children and their parents all ate the same meal, with vastly different results: One parent was apparently unaffected, while the other suffered some abdominal discomfort, but Hillary suffered a total shutdown of her kidneys.

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