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Food Irradiation
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Douglas W. Morrison
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Jun 02, 2009 16:55 PDT
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Hello Folks
Here is an interesting article sent to me by my very good friend David
Horwood from Melbourne. Thanks as always, David!
It appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Interesting that despite the admission by the AQIS that eating
irradiated cat food had killed cats, they have only put a ban on
irradiating cat food, but continue to allow other pet foods (ahd human
foods, albeit at lower doses) to be irradiated.
It is at times like this that I often find myself humming along to the
immortal lyrics of Elvis Costello: "Oh, I used to be disgusted, but now
I try to be amused...."
Cheers,
Doug
Cat-food irradiation banned as pet theory proved
Kelly Burke Consumer Affairs Reporter
May 30, 2009
A SERIES of mysterious cat deaths was caused by the government-mandated
practice of irradiating imported pet food.
The Agriculture Minister, Tony Burke, has ordered the controversial
sterilisation process, which has been in place for more than a decade,
to cease immediately, following compelling overseas evidence that some
cats can suffer fatal neurological damage after eating irradiated dry
food.
Dogs do not appear to be affected by similarly treated food.
About 90 cats fell ill last year and 30 died before a Sydney vet,
Georgina Child, made the link in November between the mystery illness
and a brand of Canadian gourmet pet food called Orijen.
The manufacturer, Champion Petfoods, blamed the contaminated food on
Australian quarantine regulations, which demand that pet food not cooked
over a specified temperature undergo irradiation of 50 kiloGrays upon
arrival in the country. Of the 60 countries Champion Petfoods exports
to, only Australia makes irradiation compulsory.
The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and the company that
carries out the process, Steritech, insisted at the time the irradiation
process was harmless. A limited range of imported human foods, including
dried herbs and some tropical fruits, are also irradiated before landing
on store shelves, but at much lower levels than that mandated for pet
food.
Mr Burke said the inspection service decided to act in response to
international reports his department received only late last week. Work
was being done in state and federal governments to see how safety
standards for pet food could be improved.
"People expect that any treatments conducted on imported pet food will
result in food that is still safe for pets," he said.
Dr Child said the move was welcome but did not go far enough. The
irradiation ban is not being extended to imported dog food, leaving cats
with access to such food still at risk.
"We still don't know why this problem is unique to cats, and we're still
not certain why some brands of pet food are affected by irradiation and
not others," she said. "What this does show is that all food that has
been irradiated needs to be labelled, which isn't the case at the
moment."
Sarah Oddy, of Dundas, who lost two cats after they were fed the Orijen
pet food, said the ban was great news.
Champion Petfoods has set up a fund to disperse compensation for
veterinary bills for all affected Australian cat owners.
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