Spring Break
A&M scientists aim for safer food
By: Dan Orth
Issue date: 11/20/03 Section: News
Scientists at the National Electron Beam Food Research Center are working to improve the safety of foods through a method that uses common electricity to irradiate foods.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5,200 people die from food-borne illnesses each year and 323,000 are hospitalized. Children between the ages of 1 and 14 are most at risk.
Food safety is a problem that scientists using this technology may address through reducing pathogens such as E. coli, listeria and salmonella so that food-borne illnesses are minimized.
Although this technology is useful and deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. T. Andy Vestal said the biggest challenge in the widespread acceptance of irradiation technologies is the public's negative connotation toward the word irradiation.
Vestal, an associate director and Texas Cooperative Extension Specialist at the Institute of Food Science and Engineering, said irradiation is not synonymous with nuclear energy.
"When people think of irradiation, they think of nuclear radiation and incidents like Chernobyl. Texas A&M's electron beam irradiation process uses common electricity," Vestal said.
The Electron Beam facility was brought to A&M's Research Park through a $10 million partnership with SureBeam Corporation. Use of the facility is split between test market commercial processing and A&M research. SureBeam built the facility, then deeded it to A&M in a 2002 ceremony.
SureBeam is a provider of patented electron beam systems and services to the food industry.
Vestal said the facility has the capacity to irradiate ground beef at up to 40,000 pounds per hour, but the A&M contract governs processing to 25 percent of this capacity to ensure the facility's role in research and test marketing rather than commercial processing.
Advantages of decreasing food losses, improving shelf life and controlling food-borne illnesses come from irradiating foods. Killing the pathogens inside the food product controls contamination, infestation and spoilage.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5,200 people die from food-borne illnesses each year and 323,000 are hospitalized. Children between the ages of 1 and 14 are most at risk.
Food safety is a problem that scientists using this technology may address through reducing pathogens such as E. coli, listeria and salmonella so that food-borne illnesses are minimized.
Although this technology is useful and deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. T. Andy Vestal said the biggest challenge in the widespread acceptance of irradiation technologies is the public's negative connotation toward the word irradiation.
Vestal, an associate director and Texas Cooperative Extension Specialist at the Institute of Food Science and Engineering, said irradiation is not synonymous with nuclear energy.
"When people think of irradiation, they think of nuclear radiation and incidents like Chernobyl. Texas A&M's electron beam irradiation process uses common electricity," Vestal said.
The Electron Beam facility was brought to A&M's Research Park through a $10 million partnership with SureBeam Corporation. Use of the facility is split between test market commercial processing and A&M research. SureBeam built the facility, then deeded it to A&M in a 2002 ceremony.
SureBeam is a provider of patented electron beam systems and services to the food industry.
Vestal said the facility has the capacity to irradiate ground beef at up to 40,000 pounds per hour, but the A&M contract governs processing to 25 percent of this capacity to ensure the facility's role in research and test marketing rather than commercial processing.
Advantages of decreasing food losses, improving shelf life and controlling food-borne illnesses come from irradiating foods. Killing the pathogens inside the food product controls contamination, infestation and spoilage.
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