319-D6-20-07 RC-864.3 LIMITED DISTRIBUTION WORKING MATERIAL The Coordinated Research Project on “Use of Irradiation to Ensure the Safety and Quality of Prepared Meals” Proceedings of the 3rd FAO/IAEA Research Coordination Meeting (RCM) held in Beijing, People’s Republic of China 22-26 May 2006 Reproduced by the IAEA Vienna, Austria, 2006 NOTE The material in this document has been agreed by the participants and has not been edited by the IAEA. The views expressed remain the responsibility of the participants and do not necessarily reflect those of the government(s) of the designating Member State(s). In particular, neither the IAEA nor any other organization or body sponsoring this meeting can be held responsible for any material reproduced in the document. EDITORIAL NOTE In preparing this publication for press, staff of the IAEA have made up the pages from the original manuscripts as submitted by the authors. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the governments of the nominating Members States or of the nominating organizations. Throughout the text names of Member States are retained as they were when the text was compiled. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgment by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. The authors are responsible for having obtained the necessary permission for the IAEA to reproduce, translate or use materials from sources already protected by copyrights. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..............................................................................................................................1 Achievements...........................................................................................................................3 Summary of Results .................................................................................................................7 Recommendations ..................................................................................................................19 Country Reports .....................................................................................................................22 ARGENTINA .................................................................................................................22 CHINA, People’s Republic of.........................................................................................22 GHANA ..........................................................................................................................23 HUNGARY.....................................................................................................................24 INDIA .............................................................................................................................25 INDONESIA...................................................................................................................25 ISRAEL...........................................................................................................................26 KOREA, Republic of ......................................................................................................27 SOUTH AFRICA............................................................................................................27 SYRIA.............................................................................................................................28 THAILAND....................................................................................................................29 UNITED KINGDOM......................................................................................................29 UNITED STATES ..........................................................................................................30 Annex II - List of Participants................................................................................................31 Annex III - Programme ..........................................................................................................34 Annex IV - List of Publications .............................................................................................36 1. INTRODUCTION The prepared convenience foods sector has become a significant part of the economy of many developed countries with a similar trend evolving in developing countries, where many types of ethnic foods are now also prepared as convenience foods. For example, the prepared convenience foods sector in Ireland is a significant part of the Irish economy. In 2001, just under half of the sector's total output was exported for a value of 841 million Euro, representing a 12% annual increase. The sector's strong growth both in exports and in total sales has made it one of the fastest growing sectors of the food industry in many countries. Consumer studies carried out on convenience foods have shown that perceived time pressures contribute positively to the purchase of both prepared meals and take-away meals. Other reasons found to contribute positively to the purchase of prepared meals include not enjoying cooking for oneself, a value-for-money perception of convenience foods and different eating times of family members. With rapid urbanization and change in socio-economic status, and an ever increasing proportion of working women, the tendencies are similar in developing countries. Traditionally prepared meals are retort-processed, or, more recently, stored frozen, whereas an increased demand exists for chilled commodities, partly due to their fresh appearance, which is more appealing to the consumer than canned or frozen meals. Freezing and retort processing are also more energy demanding. Chilled prepared foods, however, are non-sterile and potential survival of some pathogenic microorganisms and/or post-processing contamination before packaging create microbiological risks, and a considerable limitation of shelf-life. For example, in Germany a survey of prepared cooked meat products showed an incidence rate of 3.7% for Listeria monocytogenes . In the ethnic Korean food, Kimbab, Salmonella spp. [Noack1 and Joekel, 1993] were found in some instances especially in the summertime [Kang et al , 2002]. Even frozen foods are not necessarily safe if already contaminated by pathogenic bacteria. This safety problem is even more aggravated in the case of chilled foods, which are more vulnerable to temperature abuse or instabilities of the “cold chain”. This can result in the growth of psychrotrophic pathogens. In addition to this problem, chilled prepared meals have a limited shelf-life under chilling conditions, thereby limiting the geographical area in which they can be marketed. Therefore, technologies that will improve their microbiological safety, while extending the shelf-life, are required. As a consequence of the increased national and international interest in the marketing of convenience and prepared foods, the food industry needs to be equipped with new ways for the production of safe and high quality prepared meals. One technology with a particular potential to achieve these objectives is food irradiation. It is thought that research into the application of ionizing radiation to products such as prepared meals could be of ultimate benefit to consumers, industry and trade. This is particularly important for countries where the microbiological safety of many ethnic prepared meals is questionable and their shelf-life limited due to the conditions under which they are produced, stored and distributed. Food irradiation used on its own or in combination with other technologies could significantly enhance the microbial safety of such products as well as 1 Noack, D.J. and Joeckel, J. (1993). Listeria moncytogenes , occurrence and significance in meat and meat products and experience with recommendation for its detection and assessment. Fleischwirt-schaft 73: 581-584. 1 extending shelf-life. This is of special importance for the most vulnerable individuals in society such as the immunocompromised. It is estimated that this group comprises 20% of the total world population, whether they are hospitalized or not. Although extensive research has been carried out on the microbiological and sensorial effects of irradiating individual uncooked food items, little work has been reported on the irradiation of complex food systems such as prepared meals. In this Coordinated Research Project (CRP), the potential of using the irradiation technology for convenience foods has been investigated with regard to safety, shelf-life and overall quality, particularly in terms of sensory acceptance. A wide range of ethnic meals as well as meal components were investigated with the objective of meeting continual changes in consumer demands world- wide. Other aspects of the CRP included the adoption of a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system for prepared meals and research into consumer willingness to purchase irradiated food at a premium price. The scope of the CRP was therefore wide-ranging. The overall objective of this CRP was to evaluate the effectiveness of irradiation as a method to ensure the microbiological safety and extend the shelf-life