Food irradiation: Australian quarantine regulatory attitude toward food exports

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) is a major operational unit within the Federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry of Australia. AQIS has a long history of dealing with irradiation issues, as many imported goods (non food) require disinfestation treatment, for which gamma irradiation is the most cost effective, suitable and efficient means. A ministerial decision was taken in April 1997 which authorised AQIS to oversee atrial of irradiation as a pre-shipment treatment for food to be exported from Australia, with several caveats. Any such treatment would be required to meet importing country requirements, it would be conditional on export certification and would be required to meet certain minimum international requirements established by the Coder Alimentarius. These include minimum and maximum dosage levels and labelling to indicate irradiation treatment has taken place. Strong interest has been generated by the announcement of this trial in a number of food industry segments, who are anxious to participate in the trial program. Further to the anticipated success of;the export trial, AQIS is drafting suitable legislation which will allow exports of irradiated foodstuffs from a. number of food categories, on an ongoing basis. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.