To all on thread, more on irradiation:
I have been lurking on this thread for some time, and have taken a position in OZON. This mornings Milwaukee Journal had the following news article from the New York Times (James Sterngold), summarized as follows:
1) Irradiation is an increasingly common wasy to sterilize medical products. Addtionally, 30% of the spices used here are irradiated, as are a growing number of cosmetic products.
2) Analysts who follow the irradiation industry remain skepticalfor a number of reasons: a)consumer reactions, b)cost of building new facilites. Analysts generally believe that irradiation will continue to be an alternative, but growth and timing are questionable.
3) The 3 most prominent public companies are Steris Corp, Sterigenics Int'l, and Food Technology Service. Sterigenics had sales in 96 of 37.7M, and Food Technology $200k. Both compnaies enjoyed a quick jump in stock prices after the recent FDA announcement.
4) Irradiation will become a more important part of food supply protection because a) a growing share of the food supply is imported from countries with lower standards of food handling b) could become an insurance policy for meat packers [Hudson Foods]. Piper Jaffray analyst maintains that it could be a way of avoiding a new level of regulatory bureaucracy.
5) Irradiation difficulties include a)consumer reaction, b) food taste, c)12-18 month construction of new facilites near meat packing plants Sterigenics has developed a "mini-cell" which can be built in 6-12 months, c) increased competion will cut margin. Irradiation is an opld technology and the irradiation business will likely become a commodity business if it catched on.
6) the non medical side is growing much more rapidly than the medical side. There are no new entries we see in the medical area (James Williams - CFO Sterigenics).
So thats a short summary of the article. NOthing directly relating to OZON or ozone technology. Will continue to research and contribute.
|
