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| Good ol' MacArthur |
| 01.30.04 (3:40 pm) [edit] |
"Part of the American dream is to live long and die young. Only those Americans who are willing to die for their country are fit to live."
- General Douglas MacArthur
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| ooooo |
| 01.25.04 (6:48 pm) [edit] |
one two freddies comin for you.
three four better lock the door.
fie six grab your crucifix.
seven eight gonna stay up late.
nine ten never sleep again!
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| News |
| 01.14.04 (8:05 am) [edit] |
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| short memo |
| 01.12.04 (7:35 am) [edit] |
To:
From:
Date: December 16, 2003
Subject: Proposal to Research the Feasibility of Irradiating Food
Food irradiation is a new technique used to eliminate diseases and germs in food. It would be an alternate to processes like pasteurization, or pressure-cooking used to can food. When food is irradiated, disease-causing germs are reduced or eliminated, the food does not become radioactive, dangerous substances do not appear in the foods, the nutritional value of the food is essentially unchanged.
Food can be irradiated in three different ways, each with a different type of ray/beam: gamma rays, electron beams, and x-rays. The first way to irradiate food is through the use of radiation from radioactive substances. The substances used are either Cobalt or Cesium. They give of high-energy photons called gamma rays. This type of irradiation has been used for thirty years to sterilize medical, dental, and household products. The source of the gamma rays is stored in water, which absorbs all of the rays, and is pulled out into a container surrounded by concrete, which contains all of the gamma rays. The food is put in the container for a short period of time. The source is submerged in the water after it has been used.
Electron beams, or e-beams, are the second way of irradiating food. The e-beam is a stream of high-energy electrons, propelled out of an electron gun. This is similar to the device in the back of a TV, only much larger. This technique involves no radioactivity, and can simply be turned on or off. Some shielding is necessary to protect the workers from the e-beam, but not nearly as much as the gamma rays require. Since the beam can only penetrate approximately an inch deep, the food can only be one inch thick. Two opposing beams can be used to irradiate food that is two inches thick. E-beam medical sterilizers have been in use for at least fifteen years.
The third, and newest, form of irradiating food is X-ray irradiation. X-ray irradiation is a modification of the electron beam form. It is still in development. The X-ray machine is similar to those used in hospitals but it is much more powerful. To produce X-rays, a beam of electrons is directed at a thin plate of gold or other metal, producing a stream of X-rays coming out the other side. Similar to gamma rays, X-rays require heavy shielding to protect the workers. Four commercial X-ray irradiation units have been built in the world since 1996.
Once the food has gone through the process of being irradiated, it still has all its nutritional values and is not dangerous as a result of the irradiation. The ray may slightly warm the food or make it taste different, similar to how pasteurized milk tastes different then milk that hasn’t been pasteurized yet. If the food has living cells, they will be damaged or killed. This can be good, for example, if potatoes are irradiated, they will last longer because they will not going to be able to sprout. Irradiating food does not make it invulnerable to diseases and germs. Irradiated foods also have a longer shelf life due to the fact that they have fewer microbes. Irradiated foods need to stored and treated the same way that non-irradiated foods should.
At a low dose, a wide variety of food that can be irradiated to eliminate insects in crops, as opposed to using fumigation with toxic chemicals. It can also stop molds, or sprouting. At high doses, it can be used to eliminate parasites and bacteria that cause food borne diseases. Irradiation is most useful for raw meats, especially mixed meats like sausages and ground meat. Not all food is suitable for irradiation. Oysters and other raw shellfish could be irradiated, but would also kill the oyster or shellfish, which would greatly reduce its shelf life. Salmonella can be eliminated from eggs with irradiation, but the whites may become milky and more liquid, making them seem older and not cook as well.
There have been a few types of food approved for irradiation in the U.S. In 1963 wheat flour was approved for irradiation to control mold, in 1964 white potatoes were approved for irradiation to inhibit sprouting, in 1986 fruit and vegetables were approved for irradiation to control insects and increase their shelf life, in 1986 herbs and spices were approved for irradiation to be sterilized, in 1990 poultry was approved for irradiation to reduce bacterial pathogens, and in 1997 meat was approved for irradiation to reduce bacterial pathogens.
Although the USDA and the FDA have approved many types of food for irradiation, not all of them are being irradiated in the US. A facility in Florida has been irradiating strawberries and other fruits to prolong their shelf life. Instead of fumigating tropical fruit, it is irradiated before being sent to the mainland. Some spices for commercial use are irradiated. Irradiation is also widely used to sterilize medical and household products.
When the facilities that irradiate food are done, there is no radioactive waste directly from the facility itself. The cobalt used in gamma ray irradiation is sent to a recharging facility and then sent back for further use. It is shipped in steel containers that are tested to be unbreakable. Even if they did break, cobalt would not spread through the environment very easily. Since it has a short half-life of five years and is a stable metallic form, it is not considered to be problematic waste.
There are now over forty countries that have approved using irradiation as a means of cleaning food. Twenty-seven countries have been successful in using irradiation, including Canada, France, Japan, The Netherlands, Belgium, and South Africa. When irradiation is introduced in large quantities to the commercial market, the number of food born disease causing microbes and parasites are expected to fall.
Works Cited
Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases. “Frequently asked questions about food
irradiation”
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbm...
American Council on Science and Health. “Irradiated Foods”
http://www.acsh.org/publicati...
Food and Drug Administration. “Food Irradiation: A Safe Measure”
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/cat...
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