The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently
proposed rules that would relax some labeling restrictions on
irradiated foods and invited the public to comment.
The FDA currently requires all
irradiated foods to have the international radura symbol and the
statement “treated by irradiation” or “treated with radiation” clearly
displayed on the packaging.
However, in an Apr 4 notice published in the
Federal Register,
the FDA proposed that only foods that are “materially changed” by
irradiation be required to carry the radura logo and the term
“irradiated.” The FDA defines a material change as an alteration in a
food’s characteristics caused by irradiation, such as extended
shelf-life in bananas or changes in color, texture, or taste that
exceed the normal range of variability for the food.
The proposed rule change would also
allow companies to petition the FDA for permission to use alternative
terms for irradiation and would permit firms to use the term
“pasteurized” instead of “irradiated” if the process they use meets
federal criteria for pasteurization.
Comments from the public are due by Jul 3, 2007.
The move toward loosening labeling rules for irradiated foods began
nearly 5 years ago when Congress passed the 2002 farm bill.
Labeling-related provisions intended to promote the acceptance of
irradiated foods were included in amendments authored by Sen. Tom
Harkin, D-Iowa.
The bill broadened the definition of
pasteurization to include any safe process that is at least as
protective as pasteurization and is reasonably certain to kill the most
resistant pathogens likely to occur in the food. The legislation also
directed the FDA to review its regulations on labeling of irradiated
foods, receive public comments, and then revise the regulations “as
appropriate.”
The 2002 farm bill specified that,
until the issuance of new rules, anyone could petition the FDA for
permission to change the labeling of an irradiated food, provided that
the change “is not false or misleading in any material respect.” The
FDA’s
Federal Register
notice says that the agency has not received any petitions from
companies requesting the use of alternative labeling for their
irradiated products.
The FDA says in the notice that it was
unclear how many products could be marketed without “irradiation” on
the label if its proposal is adopted, because labeling requirements
cannot be made in advance for all products. Labeling requirements will
mostly likely be set case-by-case because the effects of irradiation on
different foods vary. “It is more likely that this option would simply
allow firms more flexibility in how they label irradiated foods,” the
notice states.
It also says the labeling changes
could allow some consumers to make more informed decisions about their
food purchases, but it acknowledges that others may regard substitute
terms as misleading.
The FDA says companies are sure to
consider their bottom line when deciding to make a labeling change, but
the new rules could also increase the use of irradiation as a food
safety tool.
“It is possible that some
manufacturers not currently using irradiation as a safety tool (because
of the current labeling requirement) may opt to start using irradiation
in order to enhance the safety of their products,” the FDA notice
states.
The revised labeling rules, however,
could make it more difficult for consumers who want to avoid irradiated
foods, because they would need to do more research on which foods are
irradiated.
Currently, few foods are irradiated.
Though several major health and science organizations, such as the
World Health Organization and Infectious Diseases Society of America,
have endorsed food irradiation as safe, US consumers have been slow to
warm to irradiated foods.
Some consumer groups, such as Public
Citizen, strongly oppose food irradiation because they are suspicious
about its effects and believe food producers will use it as a
substitute for more traditional food safety measures.
However, recent illness outbreaks
caused by contaminated produce have sparked new interest in ways to
make the US food supply safer. Last October, amid a nationwide
Escherichia coli
O157:H7 outbreak linked to fresh spinach, the FDA, in an outbreak
update on its Web site, said it had a petition under review to permit
the irradiation of multi-ingredient foods, including prepackaged fresh
produce, to reduce microbial contamination.
See also:
Apr 4 FDA
Federal Register notice on proposed change in labeling rules
Jun 17, 2002 CIDRAP News article “New farm bill may promote food irradiation, but changes could be slow”
Oct 2006 FDA statement on
E coli outbreak