The phrase”electron beam”probably conjures images of 1950s science fiction more than modern food safety, but a West Virginia University researcher believes in the technology’s ability to bring quality meat and fish to consumers.

Jacek Jaczynski, an assistant professor of animal nutrition in WVU ’s Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences, has been studying the efficiency of the electron beam in food processing and has found much to admire. His research, published in the latest Journal of Food Science, finds the beam is effective against virtually all bacterial contaminantsE. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria, Campolobacter and others.

Another benefit of the procedure is increased quality of the final product.

“The electron beam doesn’t change the temperature of the food as it’s decontaminated,”he said. In fact, Jaczynski’s doctoral research compared the outcomes of decontamination by electron beam with the application of heat to meat products.

“With heat, the meat suffered discoloration, softening of texture and a general degradation of quality,”he said.”Samples processed with the electron beam were as fresh as they were prior to treatment, and they actually had an improved texture and a more desirable color.”Most of Jaczynski’s work has been done with the fish surimi, popular with the seafood industry as a crab substitute.

While Jaczynski is a booster of ionizing radiation’s ability to safely decontaminate meat and fish, he’s also familiar with consumer concerns.

“There is no way you can make food radioactive with an electron beam,”Jaczynski said. He adds that the processing technology for the electron beam is much safer for workers’environment than other radiation methods using gamma or x-rays.

“The electron beam is derived from simple, ordinary electricity. It’s a matter of flipping a switch,”he explained.”Gamma or x-rays require exposure to a radioactive isotope such as cesium 137 or cobalt 60.”

Such isotopes naturally emit radioactivity at a constant rate. While food can be processed with the electron beam in a matter of seconds, the cuts must be exposed to radioactive isotopes for hours for complete decontamination. The length of exposure can have a negative effect on product quality, Jaczynski explained, in addition to increased safety risks for applicators.

“Unfortunately, there’s no distinction in labeling when food’s been exposed to radiation, whether it was with gamma rays or electron beams,”he said. There is a movement to create an”electronically irradiated”designation on product labels, he noted.

Much of Jaczynksi’s research has centered on the effectiveness of different doses and applications of the electron beam. While the method is most effective on thinner cuts, he said, that limitation can be overcome by applying the beam from multiple directions. And dosage, he’s found, can’t exceed a certain limit, not so much out of concerns for safety as effectiveness.

“While you can control the power of the electron beam, it becomes more unreliable and difficult to control as the power gets higher,”he said.

A limiting factor in electron beam technology is its cost, Jaczynski explained.

“The equipment is very expensive,”he said, which has led him to work with Ion Beam Applications, a research firm headquartered in Belgium. The Federal government uses electron beam technology from Ion Beam Applications to prevent anthrax contamination the mail system.

Next on Jaczynski’s research agenda is an exploration of dosage in relation to thickness. He and graduate research assistant Jennifer Black will be using dosemetersgenerally worn by people who work with radioactive materialto test electron beam penetration at different thicknesses of meat.