The First Fundamental Concept For Food Irradiation

The article “Not in my fridge” by Jeffery M. Smith elaborately discussed the health hazards of genetically modified (GM) products. This article has opened my eyes and revealed my ignorance of how unmindful of what I have eaten for years. I was very alarmed by many of the things I have learned in this article. After learning the side-effect of GM food, I was certainly concerned for our health. Moreover, learning that the biotech company’s strong stand in advocate of GM products as well as the United States governments and the Food and Drug administration (FDA) cover up of serious safety issues of GM highly disturbed me.

In 2015, Tim Anderson, a PhD researcher, wrote “GMO Foods are Unsafe”, an article which perhaps sheds light on the mishandling of genetically modified foods, including the lack of testing of said food products, as well as the potential hazards posed to humans and the environment. In the same year, Genetic Literacy Project’s web editor, JoAnna Wendel, wrote a contrasting article “Genetically Modified Foods Have Been Studied and Found Safe to Eat”, and voices her disgust over the false information that constantly belittle GMOs. She believes the allegation that little evaluation has been accomplished to monitor and ensure the safety of these genetic modifications is based on frantic opinions and not accurate facts. Although their positions appear to utterly oppose one

Next, the authors write about how food has been modified throughout the years. They use the example of “cultivated rice, wheat, corn, soy, potatoes, and tomatoes have very little in common with their ancestors.” They use this example to go on to reveal that genetically modifying foods is nothing more than hybridization, or the mating of different plants of the same species to integrate the desired traits from several different varieties into a leading variety. The authors use the example of the tomato and how it is commonly bred with wild tomatoes to make the plant more resistant to pathogens, nematodes, and fungi while eradicating any unwanted traits from the wild plant such as toxins. This example, as a whole is a brilliant use of ethos. It displays that genetically modified foods are healthy and safe because it compares this new technology to a technique that has been done for thousands of years that has never been thought of as dangerous. More importantly, this comparison shows that the authors are credible and that they use their evidence wisely and correctly.

Ever since their entrance onto the consumer market in the last two decades of the twentieth century, genetically modified organisms (often referred to as GMOs) have been getting mixed reviews from the public. Genetically modified consumer products (primarily food) have pushed the barriers of some people's comfort levels. Born out of either a lack of knowledge or a sincere concern for public health or the environment, a consumer rights movement has been planted around the world pushing for labeling of genetically modified food products. This movement has matured in many places to a degree where interest groups have successfully lobbied governments into adopting criteria for labeling transgenic food

This note is very important, because radiation is a very dangerous thing and you have to make sure you know the steps and for what you’re doing. Never take a risk.

Introduction/Thesis Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are an organism whose genome has been engineered in the laboratory in order to favor the expression of desired physiological traits or the production of desired biological products according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. In grocery stores in the United States, as much as 70 percent of the processed food may contain genetically modified organisms. The same cannot be said for the European Union, who has much tighter regulations regarding the planting and end use of genetically modified (GM) foods. There is a worldwide debate over the safety and benefit of genetically modified organisms and whether they should be allowed on the dinner table.

With each advance that the food science makes so does its application to technologies. Many food industries are using machines to automate their production of food and techniques used. Automation on food products lessens the labor that is needed while that may be a great thing many food industries don’t make use of them because of susceptibility to failure. “New technologies rarely receive a broad and enthusiastic welcome.” With each technology, concern arises because their new products and doesn’t have enough data that the machines well provide industries guaranteed profits. Not many industries will use the new technology because there is not enough testing of the device. But technology needs facilities for it to be tested in order to gain results. Consumers also question the food safety that is produced from it as well. As we all know technology will sometimes fail and nothing is perfectly engineered to not have any problems but technology provides great benefits if it were accepted. Technology that utilizes food science knowledge is very helpful for our society because they provide strong benefits to our food, crops, and the environment.

Two outbreaks in late 2006 of food-borne illness involving E. coli O157:H7 on spinach and lettuce have intensified the sense of urgency about reducing the risks of pathogens in fresh produce. Members of the produce industries, government regulatory agencies and consumers all share the desire to take effective steps to eliminate or sharply reduce risks from E. coli and other produce-born disease-causing organisms. In the current climate, interest has grown in the possibility that food irradiation, a long-available technology already being used as an antibacterial treatment for some poultry and ground beef, could be applied to mitigate problems associated with human pathogens in fresh fruits and vegetables. Irradiation has also been used to kill

Irradiation is a process that that makes food products last longer in store shelves, freezers, and kills harmful living organisms. “Irradiation does not make foods radioactive, compromise nutritional quality, or noticeably change the taste, texture, or appearance of food”(FDA, 6/28/16). Irradiation is meant to help make meat last longer and stay fresh and healthy for a long time. It does not make the meat radioactive. Irradiation is also meant to kill any type of bacteria, parasites, and illness. Irradiation is used on the following foods, “beef and pork, crustaceans, fruits and vegetables, poultry, seeds for planting, eggs, shellfish, and spices and seasonings.” (FDA, 6/28/16). This is why I think that Irradiation in meat is needed.

Food irradiation is the exposure of a carefully measured amount of ionizing radiation to food. This is done in a processing room or a sealed chamber for a specified amount of time. With food irradiation, energy from radiation breaks chemical bonds, leaving the food fresh and nutritious, but with specific benefits, depending on the treatment type. (1) Food irradiation kills bacteria in the food and interferes with its molecular bonds to stop it from multiplying. (2)

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S.NRC) explains that radiation is something that is a part of everyday life, around us at all times (2011). “It comes from outer space (cosmic), the ground (terrestrial), and even from within our own bodies. It is present in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, and in the construction materials used to build our homes (para. 2).” However, most individuals confuse the difference between harmful radiation (ionized) and non-ionizing radiation.

Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy radiation from x-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, protons, and other sources to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors (National Cancer Institute, 2016). One of the main purposes of radiation is to preserve the normal cells while killing the cancer cells. To fully understand the importance of radiation therapy it is imperative to understand its discovery. The discovery of radioactivity is attributed to Henri Becquerel in Paris. His discovery was purely accidental, as most discoveries are, while attempting an experiment that utilized the sun, uranium, and photographic plates. On 26-27 February 1896, Henri Becquerel took the uranium and photographic plates wrapped in black paper to initiate his experiment by placing them in the path of sun light, but to his misfortune it was overcast both days. Thinking that his experiment was a failure, Becquerel decided to develop the photographic plates and found that uranium did not need the sun’s rays to emit radiation due to its own radioactive properties, thus discovering radioactivity. The actual term “radioactivity” was coined by Marie Curie, a Polish born physicist, who along with her husband had been studying the phenomenon that was discovered by Becquerel (Lawrence Berkely National Lab, 2000).

Radiation is often negatively connotated; however, this impression is inappropriate. Radiation is extremely beneficial in the standards of medicine and is a very predominant as well as an effective way of not only creating energy, but testing how old a fossil is or even how a substance will stand to the test of time. On behalf of the advancements brought to the surface by these developments, the possibility of genetically altering crops with radiation has become possible. With the advancements brought to the light in the early twentieth century, gamma radiation began to hold its own. Gamma radiation is extremely beneficial to society because of its contributions the agrarian culture in the world.

Irradiation play the most important role to prevent foodborne illness and food losses due to spoilage. Therefore, irradiation can significantly strengthen the existing decontamination efforts during the processing, such as a proper washing and well maintained storage to improve the food safety of egg products. The benefits of reducing or eliminating microorganisms might cause a risk of oxidative damages in macromolecules only at high-dose of irradiation. When eggs exposed to low-dose of energy, all variations in their nutritional profile is very slight or minimal. There is no scientific evidence that say shell egg irradiation can be harmful to human beings at low-dose. This is one thing most agreed on. Since irradiation of shell eggs at low

With only a 20-year history, genetic engineering is only a young science with much uncertainly relativity compared to other fields. Much of the elements bioengineering studies and experiments, the DNA genome and sequence, are still unknown to the scientific community. Changes in genes greatly transform the condition, structure, and essence of an organism, giving us an entirely different and unnatural creation. Even when the physical effects are barely noticeable or deemed safe and ethical, these modified creations’ effects on the environment are impossible to predict and will only emerge when the damage done becomes evident to the human population. Though a large unknown looms over modifying genes, bioengineering industries insist upon dismissing the scare over genetic foods with the vast potential “miracle” foods can benefit upon human society.