FDA has approved viruses as food additive
A mix of bacteria-killing viruses can be safely
sprayed on cold cuts, hot dogs and sausages to combat common microbes that kill
hundreds of people a year, federal health officials said Friday in granting the
first-ever approval of viruses as a food additive.
Will this be the end of John’s Amazing Dog Treat?
A mix of bacteria-killing viruses can be safely sprayed on cold cuts, hot dogs and sausages to combat common microbes that kill hundreds of people a year, federal health officials said Friday in granting the first-ever approval of viruses as a food additive.
The combination of six viruses is designed to be sprayed on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products, including sliced ham and turkey, said John Vazzana, president and chief executive officer of manufacturer Intralytix Inc.
The viruses are grown in a preparation of the very bacteria they kill, and then purified. The FDA had concerns that the virus preparation potentially could contain toxic residues associated with the bacteria. However, testing did not reveal the presence of such residues, which in small quantities likely wouldn’t cause health problems anyway, the FDA said.
“The FDA is applying one of the toughest food-safety standards which they have to find this is safe,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group. “They couldn’t approve this product if they had questions about its safety.”
Intralytix also plans to seek FDA approval for another bacteriophage product to kill E. coli bacteria on beef before it is ground, Vazzana said.
Living next to a city that has every flavor of Luddite ever conceived, I’m surprised I haven’t heard of this being imminent. While I’m never automatically convinced of product safety just because the FDA says so — I don’t doubt they were aware of everyone looking over their shoulder on this one.
Should be interesting.
Of course, the cynic lurking in my cerebral cortex says, “Now, every sleazy retailer of mystery meat will try to push expiration dates out to the next century!”
Update – Response to this topic here and elsewhere is growing exponentially. I’ll provide more links to the discussion:
Phage History at Intralytix website
Evergreen State College is a leading study site in the US
The George Eliava Institute in the nation of Georgia is connected with Intralytix, structurally through individual researchers and also as a provider of research [and production?] material.
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Posted: Sun - August 20, 2006 at 06:29 AM