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FOOD IRRADIATION
Dr. Ahmed Bilal
2 IRRADIATION
DEFINITION

• According to Joint Expert Committee on Wholesomeness of Irradiated Foods:

✓ “Any food irradiated at a dose of 10 kGy or less is considered wholesome for
human without further approval or testing”

• Currently, more than 30 countries are using irradiation on commercial scale and 40
have approved its use for food preservation after the clearance from Codex
Alimentarius Commission;
✓ Applicable on some fruits, root vegetables, frozen meat products, spices, seasonings,
powdered food products, cereals and related products
✓ Evidences of 1999 confirmed its application on 243,000 metric tons of food world
widely
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4 COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS OF IRRADIATIONS
HINDRANCES

✓Lack of techno-economic feasibility

✓Lack of processing acceptance by government sector

✓Reluctance of general public towards consumption of such foods

✓Products of radiolysis could be toxic

5 ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATIONS
GERMICIDAL PROPERTIES

• Among electromagnetic radiations, effective germicidal range lies in UV-radiations

from 200 to 280 nm however, X-rays are highly accelerated electrons or ionizing
radiations with germicidal effects range from 0.01 to 15 nm, respectively
• X-rays could be alpha, beta and gamma however, gamma rays (0.0005 to 0.14 nm)
possess higher penetration power than any other radiation

• UV radiations produced from very hot bodies; electric arc or electric discharge
through gases; X-rays generated from machine sources at or below 5 MeV (micro-
electron volts); gamma rays generated from machine sources at or below 10 MeV
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7 ULTRAVIOLET RADIATIONS
BENEFITS

• UV-rays from UV lamps absorb by the purines and pyrimidines of nucleic acid in
microbial cells; causing mutations i.e. permanent change in genetic material
leading to microbial cell death

• Besides, UV-rays are used to sterilize equipment; sterilize environment of cold

storage; treat water in beverage plant; killing yeast film and spores on sugar
crystals, syrups, pickles, vinegar and cheese
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9 X-RAYS WITH SPECIAL FOCUS ON ITS GAMMA RAYS
BENEFITS

• Cause mutation and death of living cells e.g. microbial cells at their
effective doses

• No effect on living cells at a dose of 0.1 Gy (Gray; unit of radiations; 1Gy = 1

Joule (J) energy absorbed by 1 kg food)

• Lethal dose for insects; 0.01 to 1 kGy

• Lethal dose for microorganisms; above 1 kGy

10 COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS OF IRRADIATIONS
PROCEDURE

• Raw materials are irradiated, prepared processed and packed

• After packing, again exposed to irradiation to prevent recontamination
• Later on, the food is transported hygienically

• Likewise, processed food could also be irradiated followed by packaging,

again irradiated and transported hygienically
 Irradiation facility

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Packaged food pass through radiation

chamber on a conveyor belt and
passed through radiation beams like a
large flashlight and do not come in
direct contact with radioactive
materials
14 COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS OF IRRADIATIONS
PROVEN IRRADIATION APPLICATIONS; EXAMPLES

✓Destruction of pathogens and parasites in raw and processed foods

✓Decontamination of microbes in spices and seasonings
✓Disinfestation of insects in stored grains
✓Inhibition of sprouting in root vegetables
✓Shelf-life extension of fruits and vegetables by delaying ripening, controlling insects
(quarantine) and microbial spoilage
✓Refrigerated shelf-life extension of meat, poultry, fresh fruits and vegetables by
delaying microbial spoilage
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17 SPROUT INHIBITIONS

• Dose of sprout inhibition; 30 to 150 Gy

✓Normally effective to inhibit sprouting in

tubers and bulbs, resultantly increases
their storage life
18 INSECT DISINFESTATION

• Insect fumigation with ethylene oxide and dibromide suspected with toxicity
hence restricted or prohibited in some countries or replaced with irradiation
facility
✓0.2 kGy applied to fruits and vegetables; effective to destroy insect eggs,
prevent larvae to become adult and inhibit insects reproduction phase

✓2 kGy applied to dried and smoked fish; effective to kill insect larvae by 99%
19 RADIATION PASTEURIZATION
CLASSIFICATION INTO TWO CATEGORIES

✓ Purpose; to pasteurize or decontaminate or disinfect the food surfaces via radiations; to

extend their shelf-life during old storage

1. Radurization;designed to inactivate or destroy food spoilage microbes

2. Radicidation; designed to inactivate or destroy disease causing or spore forming

microbes

• Such foods are considered safe for consumption and must be stored under refrigerated
condition after the treatment
20 RADIATION PASTEURIZATION
RADURIZATION

• Applicable fruits,vegetables, spices, meat and fish based products

• Benefits; give superior quality without loss of volatile flavoring components and do not
leave any toxic residues

• Dose range for destrying food spoilage microbes or to extend shelf-life may vary based
on extent of contamination and type of food material
✓ 0.2 kGy for fruits
✓ 3 to 5 kGy for meat
✓ 4 to 5 kGy for spices
21 RADIATION PASTEURIZATION
RADICIDATION

• 0.1 to 0.3 kGy; destroy parasites such as Trichinella spiralis and Taenia saginata

• 5 kGy; destroy non-spore forming pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Vibrio

parahaemolyticus and Staphylococcus aureus

• Below 10 kGy for frozen meat, poultry and eggs; destroy pathogenic
contamination and food poisoning microbes
22 RADIATION PASTEURIZATION
RADAPPERTIZATION (RADIATION STERILIZATION)

• 100 kGy or higher dose; similar to commercial sterilization; destroy all pathogens, most
food spoilage microbes such as Clostridium botulinum and their spores; highly damaging to
nutritional quality of foods

• To minimize loss of nutritional value or flavor, foods are first blanched, packed, sealed
under vacuum then frozen to -40 ̊C followed by irradiation at a dose of 10 to 50 kGy
then thawing in package and storage at room temperature
✓ 10 kGy presents no toxicological hazards

• Foods show no health hazards and remain safe at room temperature after this treatment
23 RADIATION PASTEURIZATION
RADAPPERTIZATION (RADIATION STERILIZATION)

• Applicable on few foods such as meat, poultry,fish and some vegetables

• Especially confined to sterile environment; American Astronauts and hospitalized organ

transplant patients

• Not-applicable for dairy products;cause undesirable flavor

24 ADJUVANT APPLICATION OF HEAT AND
IRRADIATION

• Sterilization of food become

more efficient if both heat and
irradiation treatments are
applied on foods in such an
extent where minimal losses
are expected
25 DELAYED RIPENING

• 250 to 350 Gy; delay ripening process in fruits and vegetables; banana, pears,
mangoes, guava, tomatoes and mushrooms (prevent stem growth and opening of
caps)

• For maximum shelf-life, irradiation in combination with proper packaging and

storage conditions
26 OTHER APPLICATIONS

• Curing of meat; irradiation considered better than chemical treatment

• 10 kGy; enhance odor of essential oil

• 2.5 to 25 kGy; decrease in rehydration time of dehydrated vegetables

27 EFFECT OF IRRADIATION ON FOODS

✓Low dose interfere in cell division and alter biochemical reactions

• Chemical alternations in foods due to irradiation also depends on packaging and processing
conditions

✓High dose kill microbial cells or cells of insects

✓Irradiated food contain radiolytic products
• According to US-FDA, radiolytic substances may reaches to 3 ppm when food is irradiated to
a dose of 1 kGy

✓Resultant product is shelf-stable and much closer to fresh foods in texture, flavor,
color, etc.
28 EFFECT OF IRRADIATION ON FOODS
EFFECT ON WATER

• Ionizing radiations may split water into different ions which when combine
together in food system along with interaction of oxygen from outer
environment may form hydrogen gas, hydrogen peroxide, hydronium ion and
hydroxyl ion

• Such components or ions may alter sensory profile of foods but do not cause
any harm on consumption
29 EFFECT OF IRRADIATION ON FOODS
EFFECT ON MACRONUTRIENTS

• Starch and pectin; sensitive to irradiation

✓ Sucrose; irradiation produce some components that have toxic effects on body cells

• Irradiation of protein; cause deamination, oxidation, polymerization and

decarboxylation
✓ Histidine, phenylalanine, thyroxin and S-containing amino acids; sensitive to
irradiation

• Irradiation of lipids; produces carbonyl groups; potentially harmful

30 EFFECT OF IRRADIATION ON FOODS
EFFECT ON MICRONUTRIENTS

• Food remain fresh when irradiated without heat application and losses in
micronutrients via irradiation are either comparable or less than other processing
treatments

• Vacuuming packing and frozen state irradiation treatment prevent loss of

micronutrients

• Vitamin A, E, C, K and thiamine; sensitive to irradiation

• Vitamin D, riboflavin and niacin stable to irradiation

31 WRAP-UP