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that the details of each proposed application must be seen by an Advisory Ministry of Health
Committee which has already been set up with Prof. F.G. Young as chairman. This Committee, on
the recommendations contained in the Ministry of Health Working Party Report which recommended
the original regulations, will consider the safety of the proposed process with respect to its
effectiveness in producing the result claimed for it. The question of safety for consumption of
irradiated food with respect to possible toxicity will also be examined.
Approval by this Advisory Committee is the first hurdle to be overcome by the proposers of
this process. On the question of safety for consumption, one can point to the fact that animal
feeding studies, using various species, have been in progress for many years and a wide variety
of irradiated foods has been tested. The US programme has been very wide and some work has
also been done in the UK and other countries. Irradiated bacon, potatoes and wheat have been
cleared for human consumption in the USA by the Food and Drug Administration, irradiated
potatoes and onions in Canada, and several foods in the USSR, although industry has not yet
adopted the processes. Irradiation of potatoes was tried in Canada on a commercial scale but
came off rather badly due to poor potato harvesting conditions during the first year of operation.
The next hurdle is the fitting in of a process with already existing legislation, particularly
the Public Health (Imported Food) Regulations and the Meat (Staining and Sterilization) Regulations.
These, as I have indicated, are currently under discussion.
I cannot give you all the answers, but I have put to you a description of the process with
its advantages and disadvantages. It would be wrong to discard a new technology because it
does not quite fit in with accepted definitions and traditional practices. On the other hand the
introduction of an entirely new process warrants careful examination and the new regulations
controlling irradiation are a necessary step, though we may not have been so particular in the
past about other accepted procedures, e.g. the use of certain chemical treatments or traditional
practices like smoking used in curing processes.
I mentioned at the start that high capital investment is involved. The treatment of all horsemeat
coming into the Port of London involves the processing of the order of 12,000 tons per
year. To do this a large source of radio-isotope would be needed, perhaps 600,000 curies
suitably housed and with automatic conveyor system incorporating all the already established
safety mechanisms (? cost £250,000). To ensure a continuous throughput to the plant a large
refrigerated store would be required to take care of the difficulties of irregular arrival of consignments.
The total capital cost would be of the order of several hundred thousand pounds, but
in fact the running cost, or in other words the cost per pound per treatment, is likely to be quite
acceptable to the trade. This cost including repayment of the capital and interest on it according
to normal accountancy procedures would be of the order of a few pence per pound. The introduction
of the process enabling the trade in raw meat to continue could be of great value to the
trade. We must give due consideration to the business aspects in making our rules and regulations.