A long-dormant petition to allow ionizing irradiation as a way to control bacteria and other pathogens in Canadian beef may soon be back on the front burner.
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association said Monday it expects “in the coming week” to submit paperwork — at the request of Health Canada — that would “reactivate the process” to seek approval for beef irradiation.
The CCA, which first filed its petition for that approval in 1998, said Monday it has made “ongoing efforts” in the following 15 years toward the regulatory amendments needed to allow beef irradiation.
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Health Canada completed its scientific review of the process in 2003 and made a “positive recommendation” on the proposal, but the “final steps” of publishing the proposed new regulation have not yet been completed, the CCA said.
A regulatory proposal made it to the Canada Gazette in November 2002 and a Canadian code of practice for food irradiation was developed. Health Canada, in a statement last year, said that “because of significant public concerns related to irradiation,” the federal government didn’t move forward with regulations at that time and had no plans to do so in the near future.
“The path towards approval in Canada has been a long one, particularly relative to the equivalent U.S. approval process that was completed more than a decade ago,” the CCA said in a newsletter Monday.
“However, the history of milk pasteurization serves as a reminder of the time required for adoption and consumer acceptance of an approach that has ultimately been recognized as a pillar in Canada’s public health system.”
Support from industry, the government, the scientific community and the medical profession will be needed to support consumer education initiatives, the CCA said — and noted “arguments advanced by opponents of irradiation today are almost identical to those used at the start of the last century against milk pasteurization.”
Health Canada, for its part, notes nothing can “guarantee” food safety, but food irradiation reduces the bacteria and other microorganisms that may be present on food. Irradiated food, the agency has said, “must be handled properly like other foods to prevent re-contamination.”
Canada today allows irradiation in a few food products: potatoes and onions, to inhibit sprouting during storage; wheat, flour and whole wheat flour for insect control in stored food; and whole or ground spices and dehydrated seasonings, to reduce microbial load.
Apart from beef, Health Canada has also completed its reviews of proposals for irradiation’s use on poultry, shrimp, prawns and mangoes.
In the U.S., meanwhile, irradiation of red meats, poultry and fresh fruits and vegetables is already allowed; Health Canada notes that country’s experience shows “many consumers” are willing to buy irradiated foods, particularly if “the purpose of the irradiation is clearly indicated… If consumers are first educated about what irradiation is and why it is done, approximately 80 per cent will buy the product in these marketing tests.”
“Very concerned”
Last February, an Angus Reid survey commissioned by the Consumers Association of Canada found two in five Canadians are “very concerned” with potential for bacteria in chicken, hamburger and deli meats. It also found 57 per cent of respondents had never heard of food irradiation.
After the process was explained as a method used in countries such as the U.S. and Mexico “to eliminate harmful bacteria such as listeria and E. coli,” 50 per cent of those surveyed said they would “moderately” support irradiation as a choice for consumers when buying food; another 16 per cent would “strongly” support it.
Asked if they’d consider irradiated food as a choice in their own households, 43 per cent said they’d be “somewhat” likely and 11 per cent “very” likely, the CAC survey found.
University of Manitoba food scientist Rick Holley, speaking last fall to Manitoba Co-operator reporter Lorraine Stevenson, said he’s “firmly convinced that we’ve got something here that we just haven’t taken advantage of in terms of what it can do to protect us from the organisms that just naturally occur in the agricultural environment,” he said in the Co-operator.
Bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have long recognized irradiation as a safe, scientifically valid means of reducing levels of organisms that cause foodborne illness, he noted.
Related stories:
Irradiating ground beef a decade-old hot potato, Nov. 22, 2012
Meat processors seek label use of word “pasteurized,” May 4, 2011
