FDA amends food additive rules for neutron-based container scanning

FDA amends food additive rules for neutron-based container scanning    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has amended its food additive rules to provide for the safe use of neutron-based scanning of cargo containers, effective today.
   Science Applications International Corp. petitioned the FDA for the change in 1993. The FDA is required under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to thoroughly evaluate sources of radiation used to inspect foods.
   The agency said after evaluating the test data that “consumption of food inspected by a source of mono-energetic neutrons between 1 and 14 MeV (million electron volts) is safe.”
   Neutron-based scanning techniques are used to screen large cargo containers for contraband, such as explosives, chemical weapons and illegal drugs. Neutron-based scanning provides more specific information about shipments than conventional x-ray and gamma ray equipment.
   “Most containers would be exposed to a fast scan search only,” the FDA said. “During a fast scan, the beam impinges on any one position in the container for at most 1 second.”