Food Irradiation Research Articles

Evaluation of capsaicinoid profile and antioxidant properties in dried Korean red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) as affected by variable dose rates of electron beam and gamma ray irradiation.

The application of food irradiation is based on the parameters including energy (MeV), dose rate (kGy/s or kGy/h), and absorbed dose (kGy). Red pepper powders were treated with different dose rates of 1, and 5kGy/s electron beam (EB) as well as 1.8 and 9kGy/h gamma ray (GR) in separate experiments. Constant absorbed dose (3kGy) was maintained to observe whether different dose rates affect the product quality. Total and individual capsaicinoids increased at low EB and GR dose rates. Vitamin C content decreased at all dose rates, except at low GR dose rate, where no significant difference was observed. Low EB dose rate led to a marked increase (21%) in the total phenolics than high dose rate (13%). In contrast, high GR dose rate increased the total phenolics than low dose rate. Maximum antioxidants (1.36mg TE/mL) were observed at high EB dose rate, although low dose rate also increased the antioxidant activity. Results indicated that different dose rates delivering the same absorbed dose had significant impact on the product quality and that the efficacy of absorbed dose is dependent on applied dose rates. In other words, a constant absorbed dose applied to the product is influenced by dose rate of the irradiation treatment.

“As long as it is not irradiated” – Influencing factors of US consumers’ acceptance of food irradiation

Innovative microbial decontamination strategies, such as food irradiation or treatment of foods with protective cultures, offer solutions for today’s food industry to produce safe food with appropriate shelf-life and quality. However, consumers frequently exhibit strong aversions towards highly processed foods and unfamiliar and artificially-sounding food technologies. This paper aimed at examining consumers’ quality perceptions of foods treated with different decontamination strategies and linking these findings to the theoretical assumptions of the affect heuristic in two online studies with US consumers (study 1: N = 184, study 2: N = 65). The main finding from study 1 was that the label “treated with food irradiation” had a detrimental effect on consumers’ quality perception of different foods, while “treated with food ionization” did to a lesser degree, despite being another term for the identical decontamination strategy. The suggestion that this detrimental effect origins in negative affect and associations raised by the term “food irradiation,” was substantiated in study 2. Consumers, who have negative feelings towards nuclear power, perceive irradiated foods as lower in quality, perceived less benefits and more risks associated with food irradiation and exhibit lower overall acceptance of this technology. The findings of the two studies are discussed in light of recommendations for the food industry and regulation. This study stresses the importance of consulting with social science ahead of the implementation of a new food technology.

Effects of gamma irradiation on tropomyosin allergen, proximate composition and mineral elements in giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii).

Effects of food irradiation on allergen and nutritional composition of giant freshwater prawn are not well documented. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of gamma irradiation on tropomyosin allergen, proximate composition, and mineral elements in Macrobrachium rosenbergii. In this study, prawn was peeled, cut into small pieces, vacuum packaged and gamma irradiated at 0, 5, 7, 10 and 15kGy with a dose rate of 0.5kGy/h using cobalt-60 as the source, subsequently determined the level of tropomyosin, proximate composition and mineral elements respectively. The results showed that band density of tropomyosin irradiated at 10 and 15kGy is markedly decreased. Proximate analysis revealed that moisture, protein, and carbohydrate content were significantly different as compared with non-irradiated prawn. Meanwhile, gamma irradiated M. rosenbergii at 15kGy was observed to be significantly higher in nickel and zinc than the non-irradiated prawn. The findings provide a new information that food irradiation may affect the tropomyosin allergen, proximate composition and mineral elements of the prawn.

Development of guar gum based active packaging films using grape pomace.

The objective of this study was to develop biodegradable active film to improve the shelf-life of minimally processed fresh-produce. Guar gum (GG) based films with improved properties were fabricated by employing tween-80 (0.88%) as emulsifier, nanoclay (13.9%) as reinforcement, beeswax (1.21%) for hydrophobicity, glycerol (3.07%) as plasticizer, and grape pomace extract (5%) as active ingredient (%w/w of GG). Active films had a tensile strength of 122MPa and water vapor transmission rate of 69 gm-2d-1. Films demonstrated significant antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Salmonella Typhimurium. The 2kGy irradiated minimally processed pomegranate arils packed in film demonstrated a shelf-life of 12days as compared to 4days for unirradiated samples. The observed improvement in shelf-life was due to a radiation-induced release of antimicrobial volatiles from active films as confirmed by headspace analysis using GC-MS. Suitability of active films for food irradiation applications is thus demonstrated.

Study of the first Mexican RF linear accelerator

In this work, the preliminary design of an electron linear particle accelerator (eLINAC) capable ofdelivering a beam within an energy range of 5 to 100 MeV using the S-band acceleration frequencyis presented. At its peak energy, it can be used as an injector for a synchrotron light source,independent free electron laser, or to generate neutrons. The eLinac will be separated into threebeam lines to deliver electron beams at dierent energies permitting the possibility of industrialapplications such as food irradiation, medical use, and national security.

Economic aspects of food irradiation

This paper is dealing with the irradiated foods world market quantitative and economic volume' estimating in 29 countries. The irradiation exposure technology development is presented in order to prospects in Russia. The main irradiated foods categories such as spices, dry fruits, frozen and chilled meat, including frog legs, seafood, grains and others are identified. It is shown the quantitative dividing irradiated foods world market is between China (37,60%), USA (19,36%), Ukraine (14,74%), Vietnam (12,41%), Brazil (5,62%), South Africa (4,10%), Indonesia (1.30 percent), Japan (1,17%), Belgium (1,10%). The remaining 20 States took a share of 2.6%. The irradiated products world market’ economic volume amounting to 17,136.56 million rubles, is divided between the USA (48,64%), China (16,26%), Brazil (14,53%), South Africa (of 10.18%), Vietnam (of 5.88%), Indonesia (1,04%). The remaining 24 countries took a share of 3.48% while share each of them amounting less than 1%. It is revealed that the most expensive irradiated foods’ category is and herbs, least – vegetables, cereals. The research results are shown the Russian potential irradiated foods volume consisting of meat products, the main vegetable crops, food ingredients, spices and food is about 10 million tons, more than 12 million tons, about 200 thousand tons per year respectively. The meat and poultry total production was 9,899.2 thousand tons in carcass weight, yield of grain and leguminous was 120,671.79 thousand tons; spices raw was 97.5 thousand tons, potatoes was 31,107.80 thousand tones, vegetables (excluding melons) was 16,283.34 thousand tons, forage crops (except grasses) was 27,674.15 thousand tons in 2016 in Russia. Therefore 100% of meat, 74% of vegetables and about 1% of spices and animal feeds may be subjected to radiation in Russia. Despite the advanced technology and status as a leader in the agricultural radiology and radioecology field commercial irradiation is not carried out in Russia due to the need for in-depth irradiated foods' influence study of biochemical, physical-chemical, molecular-genetic processes in the human body and the representatives of agrobiocenosis.

Construindo pontes entre ciência e sociedade: divulgação científica sobre irradiação de alimentos

Food irradiation is a safe and effective preservation technique to eliminate insects and parasites and reduce disease-causing microorganisms. The process helps to inhibit sprouting and delay ripening, prolonging the shelf-life of fresh fruits and vegetables. Nevertheless, among a great fraction of Brazilian population, there is still great misunderstanding about the peaceful applications of nuclear science. Most often the media and social networks tend to associate radiation to nuclear weapons and major accidents. Misinformation and common wrong beliefs confuse public’s perceptions: consumers seem to misunderstand the difference between irradiated food and radioactive food and the general public has major concerns about the negative health effects and environmental contamination. This paper presents some considerations about consumers´ perceptions of irradiated food, as well as the need of improving science communication. Society´s judgments and decision making are directly linked to perceived benefits and risks. The scientific community must build new bridges between nuclear science and the general public, offering a wider perspective on the benefits and risks resulting from ionizing radiation in everyday life.

Irradiated black pepper identification based on thermoluminescence of silicate minerals

In this work we have successfully implemented thermoluninescence TL method for irradiated food identification. First tests are performed on Indian black pepper and show promising results to extend the proposed method to many other foods. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that SiO2 (p3221) is the main component of the separated mineral phase. A saturation dose of ~ 100 Gy is determined for this pepper above which all thermoluminescent centers of the quartz are activated. Thus, above this threshold dose, only the pepper irradiation will be confirmed but no accuracy on the exact dose received.

Scientific Opinion on the Standards and Regulations of Irradiated Food

Our markets and economies become more global and it is very much essential that food products must fulfill high standards of quality and safety to trade across borders. Food irradiation is one of them and it is a powerful food processing technology for controlling spoilage and reducing food-borne pathogens. International standards and regulations for food irradiation covering food safety and quality, labeling, plant protection and environment, packaging issue, dosimetry, facility management, nuclear safety and security, consumer behavior and so on established by the national and international organization in the world. International trade in irradiated foods increasing with wider acceptance of this technology by the consumer. Nowadays, more than 60 countries accepting and trading irradiated foods or food ingredients or food products. This paper focusing on irradiated food with consumer acceptance and standards and regulation of irradiated food as well as international trade issues.

Irradiation Preservation of Meat and Meat Products and its Effect-A Review

Radiation processing is one of the emerging technologies to ensure the safety of meat and meat products. Microbial contamination of meat is a serious concern for both meat products and consumers. Irradiation has emerged as an alternate technology to eliminate microbial contamination and several countries have approved it. Wide acceptability of radiation processed meat products will depend upon quality parameters such as oxidative changes and organoleptic attributes. Food irradiation can cause changes in both macro and micro nutrients, but these changes are small. Irradiation is not alone in its ability to produce nutritional changes. Many food processes, notably cooking and heating in general, also cause nutrient loss, often to a greater run. No significant effects on essential amino acids have been observed in beef, fish or many other food stuffs even at sterilizing doses. Irradiation affects flavour and texture of dairy products and eggs. On the whole irradiation of food does not cause nutrient losses to the extent that there could be an adverse effect on the nutritional status of the individuals consuming these foods. Development of shelf stable meat and meat products is a challenging task due to physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory alterations during storage. Lot of thrust is being given in the application of radiation processing in meat sector due to its microbial safety. Maintaining and delivering quality and safety products both in civilian and service sectors is the need of the hour. Even though irradiation can ensure complete microbial sterility it can lead to lipid and protein oxidation due to the formation of free radicals which can cause flavour changes. The adverse implications due to lipid and protein oxidation being observed in meat, poultry products can be suppressed by selecting proper natural antioxidant combinations. Irradiation can be employed as a critical control point in the meat, poultry chain and such an intervention is essential in ensuring the safety of products.

Implications of the use of irradiation in the processing of animal origin foods: Review

Food irradiation has been used since the early twentieth century. It has become a safe method of animal food preservation, mainly by keeping their sensory and nutritional characteristics intact, reducing economic losses and increasing products durability. The technique can effectively eliminate or reduce foodborne microorganisms, parasites and pests without significant impact and change in composition, ensuring food safety and nutritional quality. Irradiation is currently used in meat and chicken giblets, beef, dairy products and other animal products. There is a growing consumer demand for nutritious and safe food worldwide. At the same time, contamination by microorganisms, especially of animal origin, remains a major public health problem, causing a significant increase in foodborne diseases, and thus affecting the productivity of human populations. The energy involved in irradiation is not powerful enough to affect the nucleus of the atoms within the food and, since the food does not come into contact with the radioactive source, it does not become radioactive. The process involves exposing the food, either packaged or in bulk, to carefully controlled amounts of ionizing radiation for a specific time to destroy pathogenic microorganisms. The limitation of this process concerns consumer acceptance, because they associate irradiation with radioactivity. Therefore, the present study aimed to clarify the practical benefits of food irradiation associated to a food preservation system, through a systematic literature review.

Risks of Using Sterilization by Gamma Radiation: The Other Side of the Coin.

The standard sterilization method for most medical devices over the past 40 years involves gamma irradiation. During sterilization, gamma rays efficiently eliminate microorganisms from the medical devices and tissue allografts, but also significantly change molecular structure of irradiated products, particularly fragile biologics such as cytokines, chemokines and growth factors. Accordingly, gamma radiation significantly alters biomechanical properties of bone, tendon, tracheal, skin, amnion tissue grafts and micronized amniotic membrane injectable products. Similarly, when polymer medical devices are sterilized by gamma radiation, their physico-chemical characteristics undergo modification significantly affecting their clinical use.Several animal studies demonstrated that consummation of irradiated food provoked genome instability raising serious concerns regarding oncogenic potential of irradiated consumables. These findings strongly suggest that new, long-term, prospective clinical studies should be conducted in near future to investigate whether irradiated food is safe for human consumption. In this review, we summarized current knowledge regarding molecular mechanisms responsible for deleterious effects of gamma radiation with focusing on its significance for food safety and biomechanical characteristics of medical devices, and tissue allografts, especially injectable biologics.

Effect of Temperature and Gamma Radiation on Salmonella Hadar Biofilm Production on Different Food Contact Surfaces

Salmonella is a pathogen transmitted by foods and it is one of the most important target bacteria in food irradiation studies. Few works were carried out on the effectiveness of gamma radiation against biofilms formed by this bacterium. Salmonella can form a biofilm on different material surfaces. The physicochemical properties of surfaces and environmental factors influence the adhesion of this pathogen. The present study investigated the effect of gamma radiation (1 and 2 kGy) and temperature (28°C and 37°C) on the development of Salmonella Hadar biofilm on polyvinyl chloride (PVC), glass, cellophane paper (CELLO), and polystyrene (POLY). The obtained results indicated that biofilm production is surface and temperature dependent. In addition, biofilm formation decreased significantly after gamma irradiation at either 1 or 2 kGy doses. However, the agfD and adrA genes expression did not demonstrate significant decrease. This work highlighted that gamma radiation treatment could reduce the biofilm formation of Salmonella enterica serovar Hadar on different food contact surfaces.

Recognition and Behavior of Female Workers for Irradiated Food

Recognition and Behavior of Female Workers for Irradiated Food

Construction and validation of a psychometric scale to measure awareness on consumption of irradiated foods.

Although food irradiation has been used to ensure food safety, most consumers are unaware of the basic concepts of irradiation, misinterpreting information and demonstrating a negative attitude toward food items treated with ionizing radiation. This research is aimed at developing a tool to assess the awareness on the consumption of irradiated food. The sample was composed by employees from different social classes and school levels of Brazilian universities, who reflect the end-users of the irradiated foods, representative of the views of lay consumers. The total number of respondents was 614. In order to assess the Awareness Scale on Consumption of Irradiated Foods (ASCIF), an instrument has been developed and submitted to semantic tests and judge’s validation. The instrument, that included 32 items, contemplated four construct factors: concepts (6 items), awareness (10 items), labeling (7 items) and safety of Irradiated foods (9 items). The data were collected by electronic means, through the site <https://pt.surveymonkey.com/>. By using exploratory factorial analysis (EFA) 4 factors have been found. They summarize the 31 items included. These factors account for 64.32% of the variance of the items and the internal consistency of the factors has been deemed good. An Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) was conducted to evaluate the factor structure of the instrument. The proposed instrument has been found to meet consistency criteria as an efficient tool for indicating assessing potential challenges and opportunities for the irradiated food markets.

A versatile radiochromic dosimeter for low‐medium gamma radiation and its application to food irradiation

ABSTRACTThis article presents a novel radiochromic film for selective detection of low‐medium (0–10 kGy) gamma radiation (60Co) doses. This dosimeter is based on a printed fluorescent multilayer structure comprising a paper substrate having layers of copper phthalocyanine (DY220) (a green emitter material) on the bottom, and layers of poly[2‐methoxy‐5(2′‐ethylhexyloxy)‐p‐phenylenevinylene] (MEH‐PPV) (a green‐light absorber, red emitter, and radiation sensitive polymer) on the top. The effect of gamma radiation on the optical properties of DY220/MEH‐PPV was described: it was observed as a strong correlation between radiation dose and fluorescent, color coordinates for CIE (1931) chromatic diagram, and Pantone color reference of the dosimeter. The rate of these changes can be altered by manipulation of top–bottom layers to represent easily the radiation dose to be determined in a wide range. This versatile dosimeter has many uses in the field of food radiation for monitoring, quality assurance, and control of the gamma radiation process. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 45729.

No induced mutagenesis in human lymphoblast cell line and bacterial systems upon their prolonged sub-culturing in irradiated food blended media.

Profound apprehension towards safety of irradiated food has remained a major cause behind tardy acceptance of this technology although it has immense socio-economic potential. Generation of in-depth scientific evidence will help to refute these apprehensions. With this prospective, the present study was undertaken where safety of various irradiated (Dmin up to 25 kGy) foods was evaluated through long-term exposure studies in models including human lymphoblast TK6 cell line (100 generations) and Escherichia coli MG1655 cells (exclusive sub-culturing in irradiated food medium for 3000 generations). Additionally, the Ames test, micronucleus test, comet assay, DNA sequencing and restriction profiling of phagemid DNA from E. coli cells sub-cultured in irradiated food medium were also performed. No induced mutagenesis was observed in these cells during long-term sub-culturing in various irradiated food medium. Also no change was observed in profiles of comet, micronucleus, restriction digestion, random amplification of polymorphic DNA as well as DNA sequences. The latter also ruled out the possibility of any silent mutation. Findings of the current study thus provided credible molecular evidence supporting the safety of irradiated foods. This would be helpful in confidence building among consumers, entrepreneurs, and strengthening the overall food irradiation program to achieve 'food safety' and 'security'. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Lack of induced mutagenesis in E. coli or human lymphoblast cell line upon long-term sub-culturing in medium from irradiated meat

Purpose: Current study was aimed to enhance the confidence of consumers as well as entrepreneurs towards food irradiation program.Materials and methods: In this work, safety of high dose (25 kGy) irradiated meat samples (HDIMS) was ascertained by scoring mutation frequency through a long-term sub-culturing study in Escherichia coli MG1655 cells (ATCC 700926) up to 1500 generations (at 1%), 250 generations (at 5% and 10%) and human lymphoblast thymidine kinase heterozygote (TK6) cell line (ATCC CRL-8015) [at two gene loci, tk−/+ (thymidine kinase) and hprt+ (Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase)] up to 156 generations using goat meat sample. Also these samples were assayed at further radiation doses of 10, 45 and 70 kGy at 2% concentration (in cell line), and 1% (in E. coli). Study was also performed with other meat samples such as chicken, fishes (pomfret and rohu) and shrimps by carrying out limited long-term sub-culturing trials in human lymphoblast cell line. Mutation analysis was also carried out using a novel DPAR (Differential loss of Plasmid Antibiotic Resistance) assay followed by sequencing of tcR (tetracycline resistance) gene of pBR322 plasmid isolated from E. coli cells grown for 1500 generations on HDIMS medium and RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) analysis of the genome.Results and conclusion: None of the assays exhibited any induced mutation when analyzed at regular time intervals. RAPD analysis also did not indicate any change in its nucleotide sequence, ruling out the occurrence of any silent mutation. Thus, the present findings report absence of mutagenic effect of high dose irradiated meat samples.

Food irradiation - available technology for reduceing post harvest losses of food

Food irradiation - available technology for reduceing post harvest losses of food

A specific but nevertheless simple real-time PCR method for the detection of irradiated food shown detailed at the example of garlic (Allium sativum)

Food irradiation is a process exposing food to ionizing radiations resulting in reduced storage losses, extended shell life and/or improved microbiological and parasitological safety of foods. Therefore, analytical methods are necessary to control irradiated food products by legal labs, ensuring enforcement of accurate labelling regulations. This publication describes a method for the specific detection of food which had been treated with ionizing radiations. The presented PCR method—working with endogenous DNA—is based on asymmetric PCR, where the two primers have different concentrations. The detection takes place with the aid of a TaqmanTM probe. The observed amplification efficiency, respectively, the obtained Ct values distinguish between irradiated and non-irradiated garlic samples. The detection limit can be estimated to approximatively 250 Gy. Experiments with heat treated garlic samples do not indicate a radiation treatment showing that this method is indeed specific for the detection of radiation treatment. As a conclusion, the presented real-time PCR method concerning the endogenous DNA is useful for sensitive and specific detection of irradiated garlic in routine analysis as well as a screening method.