Dr. Rick Holley, Distinguished Professor, Department of Food Science, University of Manitoba, will present the 2012 Herzberg lecture entitled "Must we irradiate food?"
When: Thursday, December 6 at 7:30 pm
Where: 103 Steacie Building
Free parking on any level of Lot 9 Parking Garage. This is an open public lecture, with free admission and reception to follow. Seating is limited. RSVP to events.carleton.ca
Abstract: Canadians alarmed by the recent outbreak of E. coli sickness from beef should know that pathogen contamination reaching processing plants cannot be prevented. If we really want to prevent outbreaks, we have to look at expanded use of irradiation.
Available data on foodborne illness show little progress in resolving challenges associated with contaminated food either here or in the U.S. There is concern – because there is no strategy to implement interventions or ability to evaluate their effectiveness – that safe food in Canada is more by accident than by design.
Food irradiation is the most intensively studied of all technologies used to process food, and evidence from over 100 years of study show it can effectively reduce pathogen contamination of foods at levels that do not create toxicity, affect its wholesomeness or nutritional adequacy.
It is clear that there is no need to re-invent studies to show its generic safety and efficacy. It is time to use food irradiation for our collective good.