ABSTRACT
Most countries have legislation that provides for a general interdiction on irradiated food, with authority to grant exemption for the production, importation,and sale of individual irradiated foods in accord with designated limitations. As can be seen from Table 1, some 35 countries have approved over 40 irradiated food items for consumption.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) periodically publishes in its Food Irradiation Newsletter a list o f such exemptions granted by the governments of various countries. That list is very long because it includes many permissions for experimental batches and for test marketing of limited quantities of irradiated foods. Table 1 is a shortened version, containing only those exemptions that permit the processing of unlimited quantities of the particular food. Some exemptions granted since publication of IAE A’s latest listing in October 1991 have been added. As mentioned in Chapter 2, Section V.D, national regulations have not always made clear whether the permitted dose is the overall average dose or the maximum dose.
