Irradiation of Food Food irradiation is a promising new food safety technology that can eliminate disease-causing germs from foods. Like pasteurization of milk, and pressure cooking of canned foods, treating food with ionizing radiation can kill bacteria and parasites that would otherwise cause foodborne disease. Similar technology is used to sterilize medical devices so they can be used in surgery or implanted without risk of infection. The food that NASA astronauts eat has been sterilized by irradiation to avoid getting foodborne illness in space. The effects of irradiation on the food and on animals and people eating irradiated food have been studied extensively. These studies show clearly that when irradiation is used as approved on foods: • disease-causing germs are reduced or eliminated • the food does not become radioactive • dangerous substances do not appear in the foods • the nutritional value of the food is essentially unchanged Irradiation is a safe and effective technology that can prevent many foodborne diseases.… Three different irradiation technologies exist, that use three different kinds of rays: gamma rays, electron beams and x-rays. The first technology uses the radiation given off by a radioactive substance. This can be either a radioactive form of the element cobalt (Cobalt 60) or of the element cesium (Cesium 137). These substances give off high energy photons, called gamma rays, which can penetrate foods to a depth of several feet. These particular substances do not give off neutrons, which means they do not make anything around them radioactive. This technology has been used routinely for more than thirty years to sterilize medical, dental and household products, and it is also used for radiation treatment of cancer. Radioactive substances emit gamma rays all the time. When not in use, the radioactive "source" is stored down in a pool of water which absorbs the radiation harmlessly and completely. To irradiate food or some other product, the source is pulled up out of the water into a chamber with massive concrete walls that keep any rays from escaping. Medical products or foods to be irradiated are brought into the chamber, and are exposed to the rays for a defined period of time. After it is used, the source is returned to the water tank. Electron beams, or e-beams, are produced in a different way. The e-beam is a stream of high energy electrons, propelled out of an electron gun. This electron gun apparatus is a larger version of the device in the back of a TV tube that propels electrons into the TV screen at the front of the tube, making it light up. This electron beam generator can be simply switched on or off. No radioactivity is involved. Some shielding is necessary to protect workers from the electron beam, but not the massive concrete walls required to stop gamma rays. The electrons can penetrate food only to a depth of three centimeters, or a little over an inch, so the food to be treated must be no thicker than that to be treated all the way through. Two opposing beams can treat food that is twice as thick. E-beam medical sterilizers have been in use for at least fifteen years. The newest technology is X-ray irradiation. This is an outgrowth of e-beam technology, and is still being developed. The X-ray machine is a more powerful version of the machines used in many hospitals and dental offices to take X-ray pictures. To produce the X-rays, a beam of electrons is directed at a thin plate of gold or other metal, producing a stream of X-rays coming out the other side. Like cobalt gamma rays, X-rays can pass through thick foods, and require heavy shielding for safety. However, like e-beams, the machine can be switched on and off, and no radioactive substances are involved. Excerpt from "Irradiation of Food." CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009. Web. Record your analysis of the information by answering the following questions. What organization is the author of the information? What seems to be the main purpose of the information? Is it to inform, persuade, or entertain? Cite textual evidence from the reading to support your analysis. How is food irradiation performed? Describe each method. Using the knowledge you gained from this unit, identify parts of the text that convey similar information as what you already know about radiation. Then, list any parts of the text that do not match what you know about radiation. What are some benefits of food irradiation? Cite textual evidence from the reading, or conduct your own research and cite those findings. What are some disadvantages of food irradiation? Cite textual evidence from the reading, or conduct your own research and cite those findings. Do you think food irradiation should be used? Why or why not? List three facts from the reading or your own research to support your point of view.
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