摘要：The Federal Government began allowing food manufacturers to irradiate raw meatand meat products to control pathogenic microorganisms in February 2000.Consumer acceptance of irradiated foods could affect public health because manyfoodborne illnesses occur when consumers handle or eat meat or poultry contam-inated by microbial pathogens. However, food manufacturers have been slow toadopt irradiation, partly because of the perception that relatively few consumers arewilling to buy irradiated foods. A recent survey by the Foodborne Diseases ActiveSurveillance Network (FoodNet) confirmed this perception: only half of the adultresidents of the FoodNet sites were willing to buy irradiated ground beef or chick-en, and only a fourth were willing to pay a premium for these products, which costmore to produce than comparable nonirradiated products. These findings suggestthat the impact of food irradiation on public health will be limited unless consumerpreferences change, perhaps in response to educational messages about the safe-ty and benefits of food irradiation.
