Author
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SOMMERS, CHRISTOPHER |
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Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter Publication Acceptance Date: 11/1/2005 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Treatment of foods containing fatty acids, including meat and poultry, can lead to the formation of a class of chemicals called 2-alkylcyclobutanones that are unique to irradiated foods. The major 2-ACB formed in irradiated meat is 2-Dodecylcyclobutanone (2-DCB), which is formed by radiolysis of palmitic acid. On average, approximately 6.0 ug of 2-DCB is present in an irradiated, and then cooked, 125 g ground beef patty. The U.S. FDA recommends that indirect food additives consumed in quantities greater than 1.5 ug per day be tested for safety. Because 2-DCB could be consumed at concentrations that exceed the allowable limit for indirect food additives, consumer groups opposed to food irradiation have requested that 2-DCB be tested in appropriate genotoxicity assays. This has taken on added importance since the availability, on a voluntary basis, of irradiated ground beef as part of the National School Lunch Program 2004. In order to address the question of 2-DCB mutagenicity the compound was tested in 4 mutagenicity tests including the Salmonella Mutagenicity Test, the Escherichia coli TRP Assay, a 5-flouro-uracil mutagenesis assay, and for the formation of 6-thioguanine resistant mutants in human TK-6 lymphoblasts. No 2-DCB induced mutagenesis was observed in any of the test systems, both with and without exogenous metabolic activation. |
