Sight Lines: PORK BARREL

Photo by Rusty Bailey, Media & Communication Resources

Open a package of pork that you've had for three months and if the smell doesn't kill you, the bad bugs will. But David Shoup, an SIUC professor of agricultural systems, is experimenting with a mix of techniques for turning pork into a longer-lasting, possibly even nonperishable food.

The key is ultraviolet light. "UV sterilization can kill viruses, bacteria, molds, and yeasts--all the things that cause food to spoil," Shoup says.

Most food irradiation at present is done with high-energy wavelengths such as powerful X-rays. UV light is much safer, but takes more time to kill the nasty critters. That extra time has been a real drawback to adoption of the technology.

"The UV tubes got quite hot, so they were actually cooking the food, just like a microwave," Shoup says. With funding from the Illinois Pork Producers Council, he and his graduate students modified a UV tunnel design so that it kills bacteria without retaining enough heat to cook or degrade the pork.

Shoup also uses lasers to trim fat from the pork before it's treated--a cleaner cut leaves fewer rough edges where bacteria like to hang out--and vacuum-packs the treated product to prevent oxidation. His data suggest that these three steps together can extend the refrigerator life of pork from a few days to three or four months.

He's now experimenting with a mix of UV and food preservatives to see if pork can be made truly nonperishable "without salting it to death," he says. Such a product could be useful for military operations overseas or in developing nations where refrigeration is not widespread. He's also working to see if UV sterilization could prevent the need for chemical preservatives in various other food products.

--by K. C. Jaehnig, Media & Communication Resources