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ALTERNATIVES TO FOOD IRRADIATION Treatments for contaminated or infested foods News stories about other solutions for meat contamination Contact us with new information updated October 3, 2001 (Note: This is just a few of the available alternatives to irradiation. This is a work in progress, not a complete list!) June 26, 2001: Article on alternatives to irradiation now being developed. Most are mentioned below. General treatments for contaminated or infested foods The simplest solution: cook food thoroughly, or wash with soap. Even simpler--don't contaminate in the first place! From the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition of the FDA, the summary of a very technical report that is being prepared by the Institute of Food Technologists. The report summarizes the status of and problems with a variety of food preservation technologies. These include ultraviolet (which damages DNA just like irradiation), x-rays (same), high pressure, pulsed light, and others. A new ultra-high pressure technology harnesses the natural, low-heat power of hydrostatic pressure to destroy the specific cell structure of such pathogens as Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli, while maintaining the product's inherent nutritional value, taste, and color. It is currently being used in the United States and abroad by manufacturers of juices, sauces, meats, and seafood. This technology can replace traditional food safety systems such as pasteurization, irradiation, or chemicals. Spices Heat treatment seems to be the least toxic alternative. Ethylene oxide (ETO) has been used, but is a probable carcinogen and, like methyl bromide, depletes ozone. Irradiation is widely used. Frontier Coop, a company that sells nonirradiated spices, says "There are several chemical alternatives to ETO sterilization. Irradiation and exposure to methyl bromide are the most common. Unfortunately, these sterilization methods pose as many, if not more, threats than ETO does. There are currently very few natural alternatives to ETO. Heat sterilization, although useful in some spices, is not suitable for treating all spices because of the sensitivity of their aroma and flavor components. Natural fumigation methods, like the use of CO2 chambers, will kill bugs and their eggs but won't sterilize." (source) Frontier uses heat treatment and a rigorous testing program. Sulphur Dioxide Gas Fumigation. A sterilization trial on contaminated desicated coconut was quite sucessful, giving reductions in bacteria of up 1000 times. Levels of SO2 added were typically 50 ppm based on weight of material. After allowing product to outgas after a few days, treatment residues were negligable. SO2 gas fumigation may be an option for some spices. Contact R.H.Molony <molab@ww.co.nz>. Fresh juices Cinnamon is a lethal weapon against E. coli in unpasteurized juice. Food extracts of highly flavored foods, including vanilla, cinnamon, pepper and almond, contain compounds that inhibit growth of bacteria. The technology is under investigation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Use of ozone at low concentrations for fresh juices is under development: contact Quentin Austin in Durban, South Africa.<qma@mweb.co.za> Fresh fruits Alternatives to methyl bromide, from the US EPA. 1) Prevention by keeping facilities clean and culling out infested fruits and vegetables 2) Heat treatments 3) Cold treatments (These treatments increase or decrease the temperature of the fruit or vegetable for short periods of time, killing the pests) 4) Controlling the atmospheres of shipping containers (where CO2 or nitrogen is kept high and oxygen is kept low, suffocating pests) 5) Treatment with other toxic chemicals including sulfuryl fluoride methyl iodide, and carbonyl sulfide Antimicrobial September 19, /2001-The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will permit a mixture of peroxyacetic acid, octanoic acid, acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, peroxyoctanoic acid, and 1-hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid as an antimicrobial agent on poultry carcasses, poultry parts, and organs. The action is in response to a petition filed by Ecolab, Inc. Details of the ruling were published in the Federal Register of September 19, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 182)] June 14, 2001: FDA and USDA approved SANOVA antimicrobial for control of bacteria in comminuted and formed meat products (principally hot dogs and ready-to-eat sausages) as well as fruits and vegetables. SANOVA is now the most broadly approved antimicrobial intervention for enhancing food quality and safety. The product has been used in the U.S. poultry industry for the past three years and is now in use in 30 plants to disinfect more than five billion pounds of chicken on an annual basis. Fruit coating to lengthen storage life January 9, 2001: Fruit coating technology gets FDA approval-Planet Polymer Technologies Inc. announced that the Food and Drug Administration has approved the application for a FCN (Food Contact Notification) for the topical coating technology that it has developed for use in extending the shelf life of fruit and vegetables and also helps lengthen the growing/harvest season for produce products. This technology, which is licensed to Agway's CPG Technologies subsidiary, extends the shelf life of a wide variety of tropical fruits and produce. It is sold by Agway under the trade name of FreshSeal™ <www.freshseal.com>. Planet also announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent number for the process of preserving fresh produce and coating composition. According to Michelle M. Burnett, president, CPG Technologies, a division of Agway, ``FreshSeal™, which controls the respiration rate of the fruit, is commercially available for mangoes and cantaloupe. In addition, the technology is being tested for papaya, limes avocados, bananas and pineapples.'' For disinfestation of fruit flies--this applies to many fruits. (Source: Irradiating Hawaii's Fruit). "Dole has invested in the Hot Forced Air and expects to use it for a variety of fruits. The Hot Forced Air was developed here in Hawaii and sales of the units to other countries and the mainland benefit the University of Hawaii financially." "Could someone please explain how any of the four species of fruit flies we harbor in Hawaii can survive cold summer evenings, let alone the winter, in Minnesota? And why is it that Florida, which hosts the Caribbean fruit fly, is only under quarantine for mangos and starfruit to the three states of California, Arizona, and Texas, yet can ship those same fruits into Utah, Nevada and New Mexico without post harvest treatments? By the way, Florida currently uses hot dip for mangos and cold treatment for starfruit to comply with the quarantine in the three states mentioned above." "The U.S. taxpayers have already invested millions of dollars into research of non-nuclear hot and cold technologies for post harvest treatment of fresh tropical products. Some of that work has been done in Hilo, Hawaii, by the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA. There is a five-page update on the status of their research which can be downloaded from the Internet. In short, we have an effective cold technology that works on Sharwil avocados and starfruit. We have a hot dip for lychee, a dry heat treatment for papaya which may be better than vapor heat, a heat shock for red ginger, and many other "on the verge" technologies. When methyl bromide becomes prohibited for use in year 2001, a dry heat could be used to meet quarantine requirements for shipments of green coffee beans. Steam treaments for sterilizing media already exist. Most of these non-nuclear technologies can be implemented at low cost, on a small scale, which probably makes more economic sense than the medium to large scale facilities required for irradiation to be cost effective." Meat and Poultry May 1, 2001: Company develops fast test for E. coli (which is caused by fecal contamination). ARS develops new method to reduce farm pathogens - feeding sodium chlorate March 6, 2001-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) researchers have developed a new approach to reducing Salmonella typhimurium and E. coli O157:H7 in pigs and cows. The scientists report that sodium chlorate, fed in low doses to pigs and cows before slaughter, selectively kills these pathogens. The scientists in the ARS Food and Feed Safety Research Unit in College Station developed an animal model showing that sodium chlorate reduces these bacteria in the animal intestinal tract. The USDA has applied for a patent on behalf of the inventors, ARS microbiologists Robin C. Anderson and David J. Nisbet in College Station and Larry H. Stanker in Albany, Calif. The researchers are seeking a cooperative research partner to further develop the work for commercial meat processing. Besides adding the chlorate to feed, the researchers suggest adding chlorate to drinking water for the animals upon arrival at the processing facility. However, the FDA would need to approve any wide-scale use of the technique in food processing facilities. For more details, see the March issue of Agricultural Research online at: www.ars.usda.gov. January 23, 2001: New red meat carcass treatment from Ecolab effective against pathogens A new antimicrobial spray for the treatment of red meat carcasses has officially been introduced by Ecolab Inc., following its approval by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Inspexx(TM) 200 is used to treat red meat carcasses during processing in plants to reduce microbial contamination. Currently in the U.S. there are several hundred facilities that, collectively, process 500,000 head of beef and swine per day. Inspexx 200 is applied to each carcass at various processing points to reduce microbial, particularly pathogenic bacteria contamination. Inspexx 200 is unique in that it can be applied at concentration levels 100 times lower than other treatments currently available. This means contamination with pathogenic bacteria including E.coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Listeria is reduced at lower chemical concentrations, providing a cost effective alternative to other treatments. The FDA amended the food additive regulations to provide for the safe use of a mixture of peroxyacetic acid, octanoic acid, acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, peroxyoctanoic acid, and ethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid as an antimicrobial agent on red meat carcasses. This action is in response to a petition filed by Ecolab, Inc. For more information, see the Federal Register of November 27, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 228). January 11, 2001: E. Coli inhibitor effective in independent tests. Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp. (New York, NY) announced that tests conducted at the Department of Food Science at the University of Manitoba demonstrated that the company's novel proprietary antibacterial agent, NXC 4720, completely eliminated E. coli 0157:H7 in a laboratory model of a livestock gut. New biosensors: Detection of pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli is getting easier, thanks to new biosensors developed by University of Rhode Island researchers. The biosensors use fiber optic technology to detect and quantify bacteria. The researchers are working with Pierson Scientific Associates of Andover, MA, to develop portable prototypes of the device. The partnership was awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the National Science Foundation in 1998. Improving farming practices: At a government-sponsored conference on food safety, federal officials said improving farming practices was the most promising way to prevent foodborne illnesses. It is "one of the areas that gets the least amount of attention and one that is the most important to improving food safety," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine. Research is under way on vaccines that would prevent cattle from carrying the bacteria, on feed additives that would eliminate it from the animals, and new methods of composting manure so it can be used as fertilizer without contaminating crops or ground water. Chicken farming practices: Some new tests being tested by U.S. chicken companies are producing chickens with even better microbiological profiles than the impressive gains previously achieved, according to the National Chicken Council (NCC). All of the interventions being tested have already been declared safe for use on food, and processing plants participating in the program are reporting an average incidence of Salmonella on raw, processed chickens of 6.4%, whereas USDA has reported a Salmonella incidence rate of 9.9%. Interventions include treatment of drinking water with chlorine, hydrogen peroxide or ozone; litter (bedding) treatment; and hatchery disinfections. Plant oils kill pathogens: In laboratory experiments, the essential oils carvacrol and thymol, available from common herbal plants, in quantities as low as 1 gram in one-half-liter slurries of cattle feces and urine completed blocked formations of foul-smelling volatile fatty acids. E. coli and other potentially harmful bacteria were also reduced in the manure. Scientists are now taking their research to manure in the feedlot to field test against E. coli O157:H7 and other pathogens. From the Agricultural Research Service Summer 2000: As detailed in the "Fact Sheet: New Technologies" from the American Meat Institute, a variety of technologies are being used in 50-90% of American meat plants. Carcass rinsing with hot water, organic acids and trisodium phosphate are being tested. Ozonation uses water infused with ozone molecules to reduce/eliminate bacterial contamination. Steam pasteurization (a burst of superheated steam for less than one second) "effectively pasteurizes the exterior of the carcass just before it enters the cooler." Steam and hot water vacuums remove visible dirt or debris aseptically (this replaces the previous practice of trimming off the contamination). Research is under way on a variety of promising approaches, including pulsed energy, bright light, high pressure, and other nonthermal technologies, but few are ready for immediate application (13,14; Fed Reg 61:42381-83, 1997). Cetylpyridinium chloride may prevent Salmonella 5/19/2000-According to a report in The MEATing Place, an Arkansas researcher has proposed that cetylpyridinium chloride, the active ingredient in some mouthwashes, may be used to clean pathogens from chicken carcasses. FSIS has agreed to sample poultry carcasses after post-chill treatment (without rinsing) with cetylpyridinium chloride, said Amy Waldroup, a professor in the Department of Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The antimicrobial also kills campylobacter and Listeria, and extends product shelf life by two to three days, said Waldroup. Treatment costs average about 80 cents per hundred birds. Waldroup said the promising application for this product is on fully cooked, ready-to-eat products because it kills Listeria. Waldroup said she is currently petitioning FSIS to approve cetylpyridinium chloride as a food additive and hopes to gain approval this year, perhaps by the end of summer. Lactoferrin starves E. coli and other microbes June 14, 2000: During a recent study, Cal Poly researchers found that the milk protein lactoferrin, when applied to raw meat surfaces, “starved” E. coli O157:H7 and thwarted it from affixing itself to the surface of a meat sample. Laboratory results indicate the activated form of lactoferrin is effective against more than 30 different kinds of harmful bacteria, including E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Campylobacter. The technique is reportedly inexpensive and can be used in the slaughter, processing and packaging stages. It is being tested by Farmland Beef of Kansas City, MO, as of June 2000. After deploying the method itself, Farmland plans to make the technology available to the industry at large. August 8, 2001: Farmland National Beef Packing Company plans to bring lactoferrin technology to market. The USDA is reviewing the technology, and has yet to grant full approval, but through the Farmland-DMV joint venture, Farmland is pushing ahead. Initial use of lactoferrin is planned for beef products. The company is opening a laboratory later this month in California to study how well the technology works on chicken, pork, fish and fresh produce. See detailed article about cetylpyridinium chloride, lactoferrin, acidified sodium chlorite, and vaccines. (November 2000) Ozone September 24, 2001: Cyclopss Corporation announced today that following the recent FDA approval of ozone that it has successfully completed its first contract for an in-plant test of its Eco Pure(TM) Food Safety System for poultry processing. Plans are also being discussed with this processor to test an Eco Pure(TM) System in a separate plant that produces other poultry products. The FDA approved ozone for use in all food processing activities in June of this year. Up until that ruling, ozone was only approved for use in the disinfection of bottled drinking water. "Ozone not only kills E. Coli 3,125 times faster than chlorine,'' says Dr. Durand Smith, Cyclopss President and Director of R&D, ``but it does this aggressive microbial destruction leaving no chemical residuals or odor behind on the foods or in the process water.'' Ozone does not have the problem of ever-increasing costs associated with disposing of chlorine laden post-processing wastewater. Because ozone converts back into oxygen during the act of killing microorganisms, it produces far less polluted wastewater for the processor to deal with. ------------------------------- Gamma rays and electron-beams are not the only things that can kill disease-causing organisms in food: chlorine, steam, pressure, laser light and ozone. Ozone is an unstable. three-atom form of oxygen. When ozone comes unstuck, it forms one two-atom oxygen molecule and one lone oxygen atom. This atom is highly reactive, and it can burst the cell wall of a bacterium rapidly. For this reason, it is a better disinfectant than chlorine, a tried-and-true microbe killer that's used throughout the food industry. The Food and Drug Administration has put ozone in the "generally recognized as safe" category, allowing it to skip regulatory hurdles that would otherwise keep it out of the food industry. Treatment with ozone-bearing water kills upwards of 90 percent of pathogens on surfaces.Ozone can be retrofitted almost immediately into a plant that uses water in its processing. News about other solutions for meat contamination March 11, 2001 - U. Wisconsin researcher F. Denes is applying his pioneering work with plasmas to a variety of food safety issues. Denes has a patent through WARF that employs cold plasma technology to modify the surfaces of food-industry materials, such as processing machines, preparation surfaces and packaging, to prevent bacterial attachment and biofilm formation. Food pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes can thrive in the nooks and crannies of food preparation implements, escaping even the most thorough cleaning. Techniques changes the surface of materials to incorporate anti-microbial agents in extremely thin layers. Also, a protective film can be fused over the surface to make bacteria incapable of sticking and forming colonies. September 15, 2000 -According to a recent Associated Press report, federal officials said improving farming practices was the most promising way to prevent foodborne illnesses. Research is underway on vaccines that would prevent cattle from carrying the bacteria, on feed additives that would eliminate it from the animals, and new methods of composting manure so it can be used as fertilizer without contaminating crops or ground water. The new feed additives contain good bacteria that are supposed to drive the E. coli out of a cow's digestive system, a process known as "competitive exclusion.'' But cost-conscious farmers won't change farming practices unless the government forces them to do so. (USDA, which regulates meat and poultry processors, doesn't have the authority to regulate how farmers raise their animals.) September 12, 2000: Copper and brass outperform stainless steel in reducing bacteria. At room temperatures it takes 34 days for E. coli O157:H7 bacteria to die on stainless steel tiles, 4 days to die on brass tiles, and just 4 hours to die on copper tiles. At chill temperatures typical of food storage, the study found that 10% of the bacteria were still alive on stainless steel tiles after 34 days, whereas bacteria were completely eradicated on brass tiles within 12 days and on copper tiles in just 14 hours. "It may be possible to achieve important public health benefits just by changing the surface material commonly used in food processing," said a study author. Why we have a problem... May 13, 2000: The USDA has "given away the shop" to the meat industry, says head of meat inspectors union. "In the 1950s we condemned carcasses with fecal contamination, in the 1970s it was cut off, in the 1980s it was washed off and in the 1990s it is eaten." May 12, 2000: Kansas State University tests suggest that 99.99% of Listeria bacteria can be removed from processed meats by steam treatment. April 4, 2000: Processors can reduce E. coli contamination to 2% of beef carcasses--without irradiation. March 1, 2000: An estimated 89% of U.S. beef ground into patties is contaminated with E. coli O157H:7.  November 17, 1999 - E. coli bacteria is in half of all US cattle.  Scientists discover that simple change in cattle diets before slaughter effectively eliminates E. coli O157:H7. More on why we have a problem... May 13, 2000: "Schools get tainted chicken." "Beef industry says: 'Let them eat Salmonella.'" What the meat industry isn't telling you, from the Government Accountability Project.