Report of the Working Party on Irradiation of Food / [issued by the] Committee on Medical and Nutritional Aspects of Food Policy, Ministry of Health.

  • Great Britain. Working Party on Irradiation of Food
Date:
1964
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Working Party on Irradiation of Food / [issued by the] Committee on Medical and Nutritional Aspects of Food Policy, Ministry of Health. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    77/96 (page 69)
    in communal catering. Under war conditions in Great Britain meat dishes were often cooked the day before consumption and then left at room tem- perature to cool. They were later warmed up immediately before consumption. The portions uneaten on the first occasion might be subjected to a repetition of the process. The habits which then developed appear to have resulted in lasting changes in the treatment of food in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, the slow reheating of a cooked meat dish can provide good conditions for the germination and growth of any spores of contaminating C/. welchii which may have escaped destruction in the process of cooking, and a relatively mild reheating is unlikely to destroy either the remaining organisms or any toxin which may have been formed. Heating to 39-49°C can favour the growth of Cl. welchii on meat though a temperature of 62°C or above can destroy the Oreamicny, 299; S°, 21. With 5 Mrad of irradiation the inactivation factor for Cl. welchii in food is 1024 to 102! (see Table 3). Irradiation of meat by, for example, 1 Mrad in order to effect pasteurisation might not necessarily reduce the number of any contaminating C/. welchii organisms to a safe figure but if the pasteurised meat were stored at the cool temperature which might be expected in a refrigera- tor or Jarder, no hazard from the presence of Cl. welchii should arise. The Working Party has found no evidence about the effect of irradiation on the toxin. <LCO> aden | wy 6). Radiation REFERENCES STIT 1. ALEXANDER, H. D., Day, E. J., SAUBERLICH, H. E. and SALMON, w. =e effects on water- soluble vitamins in raw beef. Fed. Proc., 15, 921 -923. 2. ALEXANDER, H. D. and SALMON, W. D. (1958). Effects of gamma radiation and heat on certain nutrients in ground beef. Fed. Proc., 17, 468. 3. ALM, F., ERICHSEN, I., MOLIN, N., SyYDow, E. von and TEAR, J. (1960). Some preliminary experiments in using ionising radiations for the preservation of semipreserved fish products. Danish Atomic Energy Commission Risé Report, 16, 55-56. 4. ANDERSEN, K. P. (1960). Some studies on the irradiation of dairy products. Danish Atomic Energy Commission Risd Report, 16, 61-63. 5. ANELLIS, A. and Kocu, R. B. (1962). Comparative resistance of strains of Clostridium botulinum to gamma rays. Appl. Microbiol., 19, 326-320. 6. ARTAR, O. G., Li, J. C. R. and Cain, R. F. (1961). Effect of pre-irradiation heating on the flavour and nitrogenous constituents of beef during storage. Food Tech., Champaign, 15, 488-491. 7. ASSELBERGS, E. A., FERGUSON, W. E. and MACQUEEN, E. F. (1958). Effects of sodium sorbate and ascorbic acid on attempted gamma-radiation pasteurisation of apple juice. Food Tech., Champaign, 12, 156-158. 8. Bamey, A. J., BENDALL, J. R. and Ruopes, D. N. (1962). Int. J. appl. Radiat., 13, 131-136. 9. Bamey, A. J. and Ruopes, D. N. (1963). Effects of ionising radiation on collagen. Proc. 2nd Int. Congr. Rad. Res., pp. 89-91. Amsterdam, North Holland Publ. Co. 10. BAKER, R. W. and GoLps.itH, S. A. (1961). The complementary effects of thermal energy and ionizing energy on peroxidase activity in green beans. J. Fd Sci., 26, 91-94. {1. Baia, F. and Kiser, M. (1960). [Decomposition of vitamin C and its inhibition in the food industry. 3. The effect of i ionizing radiation on the content of vitamin C in foods. ] Acta chim. Acad. sci. hung., 24, 437-445 ; in Russian. 12. BAatTzer, O. F. and Dory, D. M. (1955). Nature of undesirable odors formed by gamma irradiation of beef. J. agric. Fd Chem., 3, 65-67.