Radiation Physics and Chemistry 63 (2002) 211215

Food irradiationFpast, present and future

J.F. Diehl*
Wildbader Str.6, D 76228 Karlsruhe, Germany

Abstract

A review is presented of historical developments, the present situation, and expected future developments in the eld
of food irradiation. Acceptance of the process in different parts of the world is not uniform. In the USA and in some
other countries where health authorities actively encourage the use of this technology, commercial application has
greatly advanced in recent years. In contrast, progress in the European Union is still slow. r 2002 Published by Elsevier
Science Ltd.

Keywords: Radiation processing; Food preservation; Review

1. The past However, technological developments during World

The early history of food irradiation is the history of
radiation itself. Roentgen discovered X-rays in 1895,
Becquerel recognized radioactivity in 1896. An outburst
of research on the biological effects of ionizing radiation
on living organisms followed these discoveries. Enter-
prising inventors soon found practical applications of
radiation. British Patent No. 1609 was issued in 1905 to
J. Appleby and A. J. Banks for their invention to bring
about an improvement in the condition of foodstuffs
and in their general keeping quality. They proposed
the treatment of food, especially cereals, with alpha, beta
or gamma rays from radium or other radioactive
substances, stressing the exceptionally marked advan-
tage of an entire absence of the direct use or employment
of chemical compounds. B. Schwartz of the US
Department of Agriculture suggested the use of X-rays
for inactivating trichinae in pork in 1921. A French
patent was granted in 1930 to the German engineer O.
. for an invention to kill all bacteria in a packaged
Wust
food by treatment with X-rays. None of these proposals
led to a practical application, simply because the
radiation sources available at that time, X-ray machines
or radioactive isotopes, were not powerful enough to
treat food in commercial quantities.
*Fax: +49-721-453-726.
E-mail address: j.f.diehl@t-online.de (J.F. Diehl).
War II produced equipment that could be adapted to
improve radiation processing. Klystron tubes developed
for radar were used to construct electron accelerators of
very high power, and radioisotopes generated in nuclear
reactors became available for large gamma ray sources.
Early studies on food preservation using such radiation
sources were described by Josephson (1983).
Reports from the United States about successful
experiments on irradiation of food stimulated similar
efforts in other countries. By the mid- or late 1950s,
national research programs on food irradiation were
also underway in Belgium, Canada, France, The Federal
Republic of Germany, Netherlands, Poland, the Soviet
Union, and the United Kingdom. The rst commercial
use of food irradiation occurred in 1957 in Germany,
when a spice manufacturer in Stuttgart began to
improve the hygienic quality of its products by irradiat-
ing them with electrons, using a van de Graaff
generator. The machine had to be dismantled in 1959
when a new food law prohibited the treatment of food
with ionizing radiation, and the company turned to
fumigation with ethylene oxide instead. In Canada,
irradiation of potatoes for inhibition of sprouting was
allowed in 1960, and a cobalt-60 plant began irradiating
potatoes in 1965. The facility was closed after only one
season, when the company ran into nancial difculties.
In spite of these setbacks, interest in food irradiation
grew worldwide. At the rst International Symposium

0969-806X/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

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212 J.F. Diehl / Radiation Physics and Chemistry 63 (2002) 211215
on Food Irradiation, representatives from 28 countries
reviewed the progress made in national research
programs (IAEA, 1966). Health authorities in these
countries, however, still hesitated to grant permissions
for marketing irradiated food. Unanswered questions
about the safety of irradiated food for human consump-
tion were recognized as the major obstacle to commer-
cial utilization of the new process. Consequently, the
International Project in the Field of Food Irradiation
(IFIP) was created in 1970. The Project had the specic
aim of carrying out a worldwide research program on
the health safety of irradiated food. Under the sponsor-
ship of FAO, IAEA and OECD, 19 countries joined
their resources, with this number later growing to 24.
Ofce and laboratory facilities for the project director
and his staff were provided at the Federal Research
Center for Nutrition in Karlsruhe, and IFIP was often
designated as the Karlsruhe Project. WHO became
associated with IFIP as an advisor. The research
program included long-term animal feeding studies,
short-term screening tests, and the study of chemical
changes in foodstuffs irradiated with a dose of up to
10 kGy (Diehl, 1995).
The results obtained in the International Project and
in national testing programs were repeatedly evaluated
by the Joint FAO/IAEA/WHO Expert Committee on
the Wholesomeness of Irradiated Food (JECFI). This
Committee concluded in 1980 that the irradiation of any
food commodity up to an overall average dose of
10 kGy presented no toxicological hazard and no special
nutritional or microbiological problems (WHO, 1981).
IFIP had successfully completed its task of examining
the wholesomeness of food irradiated to a dose of up to
10 kGy and was terminated in 1982. Its results have been
documented in more than 60 Technical Reports and in
several books, such as (Elias and Cohen, 1983).
National governments and international agencies that
had participated in IFIP felt that the international
platform for exchange of information on food irradia-
tion provided by the Project since 1970 had been very
useful and should be maintained. As a result of these
considerations, the International Consultative Group on
Food Irradiation (ICGFI) was created in 1983; it is now
supported by 45 member countries. ICGFI provides
publications on the safety of irradiated food, the
effectiveness of food irradiation, commercialization of
the process, legislative aspects, control of irradiation
facilities, and acceptance of and information on food
irradiation. The Web page /www.iaea.org/icgS pro-
vides information on ICGFI activities and links to other
food irradiation Web sites.
On the basis of JECFIs landmark decision of 1980,
the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted in 1983 a
General Standard for Irradiated Foods and a Recom-
mended International Code of Practice for the Opera-
tion of Radiation Facilities. The World Health
Organization encourages the use of the process, which
it described as a technique for preserving and improv-
ing the safety of food (WHO/FAO, 1988). WHO asked
another group of experts to review and evaluate the
results of scientic studies carried out after 1980,
together with the older studies which had already been
considered by previous international and national expert
committees. The report of this expert group (WHO,
1994) fully conrmed the conclusions of the JECFI
meeting of 1980.
In 1997, an FAO/IAEA/WHO Study Group on High
Dose Irradiation examined the results of safety studies
carried out on food irradiated with doses higher than
10 kGy. Few foods tolerate doses above 10 kGy without
loss of sensory quality. On the other hand, long-term
animal feeding studies with foods irradiated with doses
as high as 70 kGy have shown no treatment-related
adverse health effects. The Study Group concluded that
food irradiated to any dose appropriate to achieve the
intended technological objective is both safe to consume
and nutritionally adequate (WHO, 1999).
Public opinion about food irradiation was generally
positive during the growth period of nuclear technology
in the 1950s and 1960s. With the advance of the anti-
nuclear movement since the 1970s the climate of opinion
changed and opposition to the practical use of food
irradiation grew. Much more than other modern
methods of food processing, food irradiation had to
overcome barriers created by prejudice, misleading
information, and highly restrictive legal and regulatory
measures.
2. The present
Aware of the opposition from some very vocal anti-
irradiation activist groups and uncertain about the
acceptance of irradiated commodities by consumers,
the food industry has made little practical use of
irradiation processing, although governments of 42
countries have approved the irradiation of various
foods. For many years, spices and seasonings remained
the only group of products irradiated worldwide on a
signicant scale. Irradiation of sizable quantities of
frozen poultry, shrimps or frog legs remained limited to
a few countries, such as France and Belgium. Concern
about public health problems created by the presence of
pathogenic microorganisms in food and the recognition
of food irradiation as an effective tool to combat these
problems, have recently helped to overcome the barriers.
The quantity of spices and dried seasonings irradiated to
improve their hygienic status has grown from about
8000 t in 1987 to over 80,000 t in 1998 (Diehl, 2000).
According to estimates provided by the Food and
Environmental Protection Section of FAO/IAEA, Vien-
na, the quantity of food processed by irradiation
 J.F. Diehl / Radiation Physics and Chemistry 63 (2002) 211215
worldwide increased from about 200,000 t in 1997 to
257,000 t in 1999. Especially the food industry in the
United States of America is now actively pursuing the
possibilities of irradiating products other than spices. In
August 1999, the Food Irradiation Coalition, an alliance
of food industry trade associations, health organiza-
tions, academic and consumer groups, has asked the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow
irradiation of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products
and fruit and vegetable products for the purpose of
eliminating illness-causing microorganisms. The Coali-
tion has the support of prominent public health experts
who have emphasized the health benets of food
irradiation and have lamented the slowness in the
adoption of the new technology (Lee, 1994; Crawford
and Ruff, 1996; Lutter, 1999).
In the United States, irradiation of meat and meat
products requires prior approval not only by FDA, but
also by the US Department of Agricultures Food Safety
and Inspection Service (USDA/FSIS). FDA approved
irradiation of refrigerated or frozen raw meat and meat
products for control of foodborne pathogens in 1997,
FSISs separate approval became effective in February
2000. The rst commercial packages of irradiated beef
reached the retail consumer market in May 2000. The
frozen beef patties (hamburgers) were electron irradiated
at Sioux City, Iowa, by SureBeam Corporation; they
were marketed in ve states by the end of May 2000
(Mermelstein, 2000) and in 18 states by February 2001
(Mermelstein, 2001). The Iowa facility is capable of
processing about 100,000 t of hamburger meat per year.
Another company, Ion Beam Applications, irradiates
spices herbs and feeds in eight plants located in
California, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, and
Texas.
A cobalt-60 source instead of an electron accelerator
is being used by Food Technology Service, Inc. (FTS),
Mulberry, Florida, the rst irradiation company in the
United States dedicated specically to the food industry,
to process frozen poultry and a number of other
products. The plant began operation in 1994, then
under the name of Vindicator, Inc. Since August 2000,
FTS is also irradiating frozen beef patties and fresh
ground beef. Sterris Isomedix, also using cobalt-60
sources, has three irradiation plants in New Jersey and
Illinois. Other commercial irradiators dedicated to food
irradiation are under construction in the USA (Arkan-
sas, New Jersey, New York), and several more are being
planned.
Another promising application of radiation proces-
sing is irradiation of papayas and other exotic fruits
(rambutan, lychee, star fruit, atemoya) in Hawaii for
shipment to the US mainland. Until recently, quarantine
regulations to prevent the spreading of fruit ies from
Hawaii to orchards in California have severely restricted
the export of tree-ripened Hawaiian papaya and other
213
tropical fruits to US mainland consumers. The fruits
had to be steam-heated for several hours in order to kill
fruit ies in the interior of the fruit. This was only
possible with fruits picked green. In contrast, disinfesta-
tion by irradiation (IAEA, 1992) can be carried out on
tree-ripened fruit, enabling Hawaiian exporters to offer
products of much higher quality. The rst commercial
X-ray irradiator for food irradiation started operating in
July 2000 in Hilo, Hawaii. This development is also of
great interest to fruit growers and exporters in Central
and South America. The Interim Commission on
Phytosanitary Measures of the International Plant
Protection Convention has considered irradiation as a
phytosanitary measure at its session in Rome, 26 April
2001. Irradiation of fruit for quarantine purposes may
eventually facilitate and stimulate fruit trade worldwide.
In other countries, new commercial irradiators avail-
able for food irradiation have been recently commis-
sioned in Brazil, China, India, Republic of Korea,
Mexico, and Thailand. In Europe, some countries were
early supporters of industrial food irradiation, particu-
larly Netherlands and France. In contrast, German
governments, while supporting research in this eld,
did everythingFunder pressure from anti-nuclear
groupsFto keep irradiated food from reaching the
market. Greatly differing national legislations on food
irradiation were the result. One of the important tasks of
the bodies ruling the European Union (EU) is the
harmonization of food laws in the member countries. A
rst draft of a European Directive on food irradiation
was proposed by the European Council in 1988. It
contained a positive list of nine commodities or
commodity groups for which irradiation was to be
permitted. After more then 10 yr of debate in the
European Parliament in Strasbourg and in various
agencies in Brussels a new European set of rules on
food irradiation was nally adopted and published in
the EUs Ofcial Gazette on 13th March 1999. In the
course of the legislative process the positive list of
permitted commodities has been whittled down from the
original nine to a single group: dried aromatic herbs,
spices and vegetable seasonings. Any food irradiated as
such or containing irradiated food ingredients has to be
labelled irradiated or treated with ionizing radia-
tion, regardless of how small the proportion of
irradiated ingredients in the product may be. This is
bound to cause technical difculties. Spices are often
purchased as mixtures, and components may sometimes
be irradiated, and sometimes not. The cost of changing
labels accordingly, would be high. The present positive
list is considered as provisional, and EU member
countries that have national permissions for irradiation
of other products, such as France for frozen poultry
meat, and Belgium, France, and the Netherlands for
frozen shrimps, can request to get these items added to
the nal positive list. But this will not be easily achieved.
214 J.F. Diehl / Radiation Physics and Chemistry 63 (2002) 211215
Any addition to the list requires approval by the
European Parliament. The way in which food irradia-
tion was systematically downgraded and misrepresented
in the European Parliament has been documented (Diehl
et al., 1991). There is as yet no indication that the
inuence of anti-irradiation forces in that Parliament
has decreased. Under these circumstances, the status of
food irradiation in the EU is not very encouraging.
Space does not permit consideration of the situation in
the many other countries where food irradiation is
practiced to some extent. An overview of recent
developments in the application of this technology has
just become available (Loaharanu and Thomas, 2001).
3. The future
What is the outlook for research in the eld of food
irradiation? Research programs in the 1990s emphasized
improvement of methods of detection of irradiated
foods. Whereas some twenty years ago it was not
possible on the basis of chemical analysis to differentiate
between irradiated and nonirradiated samples of a
foodstuff, a number of reliable analytical methods are
now available (Delinc!ee, 1998). Another big push in this
area is unlikely. Of course there will always be research
on irradiated food, just as on cooked or dried or frozen
food. There will be more studies on the radiation
resistance of various species of microorganisms and on
factors that inuence it; on chemical reactions induced
by irradiation in different media; on losses of this or that
vitamin under varying conditions of irradiation and
storage; on combination methods (radiation plus heat,
water activity, pH, packaging atmosphere, etc.); on the
suitability of various packaging materials for irradiated
foods; on the effect of irradiation conditions on the
sensory quality of foodstuffs; on the minimal radiation
dose required to sterilize, inactivate or kill specic
insects, parasitic helminths or protozoa, and so on. But
a resumption of the concerted efforts that stimulated so
much research in this eld in the 1960s to 1980s is
unlikely. The fact that the last International Symposium
on Food Irradiation was held in 1985 (IAEA, 1985) may
be taken as an indication of a decreasing importance
assigned to research in this eld.
To what extent will food irradiation be practiced? All
indications are that radiation processing of food will
grow, but the pace will be very different in various parts
of the world. In the United States, where the health
authorities actively encourage the use of this technology,
the presently rapid growth of progress is likely to
continue. Other countries of the Americas will probably
follow the trend set in the United States. Progress in the
European Union is decidedly slower. With Green Party
politicians in the European Parliament, outspoken
opponents to the use of any nuclear technology, the
policy of delay and obstruction that has prevailed during
the 1980s and 1990s is likely to continue. Some countries
in other continents take positions close to that of the
United States, some others are as reluctant as the
European Union.
To what extent will new international activities
inuence progress in this eld? The International
Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, which has supported
research and development in this eld for many decades,
is subject to budget restrictions. Its Food Preservation
Section has recently been merged with the Agrochem-
icals Section to form a new Food and Environmental
Protection Section, with less budget and less staff
available for food irradiation activities. The mandate
of the International Consultative Group on Food
Irradiation (ICGFI) was recently extended for 3 yr,
until May 2002. Representatives of some member
countries have expressed the opinion that food irradia-
tion is now an established industrial technology that can
stand on its own feet. The future of ICGFI is therefore
somewhat uncertain. A positive sign on the international
scene is the revision of the General Standard for
Irradiated Foods and the Recommended International
Code of Practice for Radiation Processing initiated by
the Codex Alimentarius Commission. At its 33rd session
in March 2001, the Codex Committee on Food
Additives and Contaminants has moved the revision of
the General Standard to Step 5 of the Codex procedure.
Recognizing the recommendations of international
groups of experts that have become available since the
present General Standard was adopted in 1983, this
revision of the General Standard removes the 10 kGy
upper dose limit. The complex procedure of adopting or
revising a Codex Standard or Code will take some more
time to reach the nal Step 11, but when the revised
Standard and Code are accepted by the member
countries of the Codex Alimentarius, national legislation
to facilitate international trade with irradiated commod-
ities can be expected to follow.
In many ways the situation of irradiated food is
similar to that of food produced with the aid of
genetically modied organismsFgenefood for the
opponents. In both cases the potential benets for the
consumer and the food industry are great, but in both
cases a formidable opposition is determined to prevent
or at least delay the practical application of the new
technologies. Nevertheless, food irradiations time has
come in the USA and in some other countriesFand will
come in other parts of the world.
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