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Nuclear Energy and Environment
Published in Takashiro Akitsu, Environmental Science, 2018
Food irradiation is a technology that extends the storage period and sterilizes by irradiating food with radiation such as X-rays, gamma rays, and electron beams. It is attracting attention as an alternative to agricultural chemicals/drugs that have adverse effects and are persistent in the environment. Around 1900, it was known that microorganisms die when irradiated with X-rays. By 1940, it was also known that germination can be prevented by irradiating root vegetables such as potatoes. In 1942–1943, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the US Army commissioned research on the preservation of hamburger patties (hamburger meat before shaping and baking) by irradiation with X-rays.
Food Preservation Methods
Published in İbrahim Dinçer, Heat Transfer in Food Cooling Applications, 1997
Many expert groups have examined the safety of the food irradiation process and indicated that this process was safe and did not confer any enhanced toxicological, microbiological or nutritional hazard over what would be incurred by conventional food processing techniques. Thus, an example is that in 1983 the United Nations Codex Alimentarius Commission recommended standards for the safe irradiation of food products and suggested that its 122 member nations revise their regulations on safety testing for irradiated foods and classify the technology as a process rather than as a food additive.
Beneficial Industrial Uses of Electricity: Industrial Introduction and Process Industries
Published in Clark W. Gellings, 2 Emissions with Electricity, 2020
Major improvements in food safety are possible with the use of ozone and the application of irradiation. Food irradiation is the controlled exposure of food, either before or after packaging, to a source of high-energy invisible ionizing radiation from Cobalt 60 or from electrically generated electron beams. Irradiation has a lethal effect on food pathogens, those microorganisms that cause food-borne illness, thus it can be used very effectively to improve food safety and reduce the possibility of food poisoning.
Novel drying and pretreatment methods for control of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables: A review
Published in Drying Technology, 2023
Tiantian Tang, Min Zhang, Ronghua Ju, Arun S. Mujumdar, Dongxing Yu
Food irradiation is a technology to improve food safety and prolong shelf life by decreasing or removing microorganisms and insects.[139,140] Radiation can break DNA or destroy other key molecules in bacteria, killing them or preventing them from reproducing.[141] Three radiation sources are approved for use in food products: gamma rays (form 60Co and 137Cs sources), electron beams, or X-rays.[142] The safety of irradiated food is recognized by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), WHO, and USDA.[143] Irradiation does not make food radioactive, does not damage nutrition, and does not obviously alter the flavor, texture or appearance of food.[144] In actuality, the changes in food caused by irradiation are so small that it is even difficult to determine whether food has been irradiated.[145] Irradiated food is required to carry the international mark of irradiation, with the ‘Radura’ symbol or a statement that it has been irradiated on its label.[146,147] The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) stipulates that the maximum absorbed dose for irradiating food should not be higher than 10 kGy, except as required for legitimate technical purposes.[148,149] Generally, different doses are used according to specific requirements, including low dose irradiation (<2 kGy) for delaying the germination of vegetables and fruit aging, and medium dose (1–10 kGy) for reducing the level of pathogenic microorganisms, and high dose irradiation (>10 kGy) for realizing sterility of products.[150] Ionizing radiation has also shown promising results for reducing pesticide residues in farm produce, with gamma radiation from 60Co sources being the most commonly used method of pesticide degradation.[25]