Is there any scientific reason for the food industry to shun gamma radiation technology for preservation of foods? Apparently not. Fear of consumer backlash is being touted as an excuse for practicing this clean technology and the food authorities also are responsible for this contradiction because of their insistence on labeling radiation preserved products differently from those processed by other technologies. Whenever a product is labeled distinctly as "irradiated" most consumers will think twice before buying them because of the normal human psychology of suspicion! One may ask why the same countries, allowing GM foods to be marketed without any label declaration, are insisting on irradiated foods to be labeled separately? The on-going research to reduce the radiation dose to as be low a level as possible will have a meaning only when this technology becomes a universally accepted one.
"The contamination of poultry products by foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes is an important cause of human foodbornedisease. This has significant economic costs to the food industry and can result in a loss of consumer confidence and damage to market brands. The use of ionizing irradiation has been approved by the US FDA for raw and frozen poultry at maximal dose strength of 3 kGy. This dosage can significantly reduce the numbers of pathogenic and spoilage bacteria and can also help ensure safety, shelf-life stability and sensory quality. However, irradiation can also result in chemical changes in meat products, leading to off-flavors and odor's, decreased tenderness and the formation of a pink color that can persist after cooking. The degree to which irradiation affects quality characteristics of chicken meat is dose-dependent. The addition of natural compounds with antimicrobial activity may allow the use of lower irradiation dosages, thus improving the quality and consumer acceptance of irradiated meat. Multiple microbial intervention strategies used as hurdle technologies can produce synergistic inhibitory effects. Natural antimicrobials include plant extracts such as green tea, which contain phenolic compounds, and tartaric acid".
One of the reasons for scientists to pursue this line of research could be to make the consumer feel that a low dose of radiation carries much less risk, if at all there is one, compared to what is being recommended. Whether one likes it or not, food industry will have to adopt irradiation technology eventually if the present trend of food poisoning and massive market recalls of foods, especially meat based ones, are to be avoided. If microwave processing has established as a technology in the thermal preservation area, cold sterilization can be achieved more easily through irradiation. The fact that sterilization can be ensured after packing without raising the temperature of the contents is too attractive an option the industry can ill-afford to ignore for long.
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