La radiación a la mesa / Radiation on the dining table

Zero tolerance to bacterial contamination means considering the acceptance of "radiation on the table". The process of food irradiation has been extensively studied, nevertheless its use remains a matter of some controversy. Despite unanimous agreement within the medical community of the safety of this procedure, occasional concerns arise from the consumers. Acommon consumer misconception is that irradiationmay turn the food "radioactive". A significant number of scientific studies on the topic were analyzed. We found no scientific study demonstrating that consumption of irradiated food might pose a risk to consumers. All studies conclude that food irradiation at the appropriate dose required to reduce contamination is safe and does not affect its nutritional valué. In order to emphasize the issue we discuss the potential benefit vs harm of irradiation of food contaminated with E. coli 0157: H7. The association of this bacteria with severe disease and death has been clearly established in contrast with the lack of a demonstrated risk due to meat irradiation. We conclude that the risks of food irradiation remains "unknown" simply because, after four decades of research, none has been identified. In contrast to the risks of acquiring a food transmitted bacterial disease, the risk of irradiation is negligible.

Tolerancia cero a la contaminación bacteriana implica considerar la inclusión de "la radiación a la mesa". La irradiación es uno de los métodos de procesado de alimentos que se han estudiado de forma más extensa y estricta; sin embargo, su aplicación sigue siendo materia de discusión. Incluso si la inocuidad está bien establecida (hay acuerdo unánime entre la comunidad científica), de vez en cuando surgen preguntas de los consumidores. Es importante destacar que no hay ningún estudio científico consistente y reproducible, que demuestre o sugiera que el consumo de un alimento irradiado podría suponer un riesgo para la salud de los consumidores. Creemos que esta revisión es un aporte importante al conocimiento. Es necesario desmentir los errores generalizados sobre la irradiación, especialmente la idea de que los alimentos se tornan radioactivos. Se analizó una cantidad considerable de investigaciones científicas difundidas en publicaciones especializadas. De ellas surge que los alimentos irradiados con la dosis necesaria para alcanzar el objetivo mi-crobiológico deseado, se consideran inocuos y saludables para el consumo y adecuados desde un punto de vista nutricional. Para ser más claros, nadie pondría en duda que Escherichia coli 0157: H7 puede causar la muerte, la carne irradiada no. En definitiva, los riesgos de la irradiación de los alimentos son desconocidos, simplemente porque después de cuatro décadas de investigaciones, no se ha encontrado ninguno. Este es un argumento de suficiente peso, contra los riesgos conocidos de contraer una enfermedad bacteriana transmitida por alimentos.

Estimation of annual effctive dose from 226Ra and due to consumption of foodstuffs by inhabitants of Ramsar 228Ra city, Iran

[226]Ra and [228]Ra contents in foodstuffs of Ramsar which is a coastal city in the northern part of Iran were determined by gamma spectrometry. Measurement results together with food consumption rates were used to estimate annual effective dose from [226]Ra and [228]Ra, due to consumption of food stuffs by inhabitants of Ramsar city. A total of 33 samples from 11 different foodstuffs including root vegetables [beetroot], leafy vegetables [lettuce, parsley and spinach] and tea, meat, chicken, pea, broad bean, rice, and cheese were purchased from markets of Ramsar city and were analyzed for their [226]Ra and [228]Ra concentration. 1-8 kg of fresh weight sample was placed in Marinnelli beaker and sealed. The measurement of natural radioactivity levels as performed by gamma-spectrometry system, using a high purity germanium [HPGe] detector with 40% relative efficiency. The highest concentrations of [226]Ra and [228] Ra were determined in tea samples with 1570 and 1140 mBq/kg, respectively, and the lowest concentration of [226]Ra was in pea, cheese, chicken, broad bean, and beetroot.The maximum estimated annual effective dose from [226]Ra and [226]Ra due to consumption of foodstuffs were determined to be 19.22 and 0.71 microSv from rice and meat samples respectively, where as, the minimum estimated annual effective dose for [226]Ra was 0.017, 0.018 and 0.019 microSv from beetroot, cheese and pea samples respectively