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The international Radura logo, used to show a food has been treated with ionizing radiation. A portable, trailer-mounted food irradiation machine, c. 1968 Food irradiation (sometimes American English: radurization; British English: radurisation) is the process of exposing food and food packaging to ionizing radiation, such as from gamma rays, x-rays, or electron beams.
If administered at appropriate levels, all forms of ionizing radiation can sterilize objects, including medical instruments, disposables such as syringes, and sterilize food. Ionizing radiation (electron beams, X-rays and gamma rays) [3] may be used to kill bacteria in food or other organic material, including blood.
If good health physics controls are maintained in a laboratory where radionuclides are used, it is unlikely that the overall radiation dose received by workers will be of much significance. Nevertheless, the effects of low doses are mostly unknown so many regulations exist to avoid unnecessary risks, such as skin or internal exposure.
In food preservation, radiation is used to stop the sprouting of root crops after harvesting, to kill parasites and pests, and to control the ripening of stored fruit and vegetables. Food irradiation usually uses beta-decaying nuclides with strong gamma emissions like cobalt-60 or caesium-137.
The radium fad or radium craze of the early 20th century was an early form of radioactive quackery that resulted in widespread marketing of radium-infused products as being beneficial to health. [1] Many radium products contained no actual radium, in part because it was prohibitively expensive, which turned out to be a grace, as high levels of ...
The Radura logo, used to show a food has been treated with ionizing radiation (international version) The Radura symbol, used to show a food has been treated with ionizing radiation (U.S. FDA version) The Radura symbol serves as an international indicator that a food item has undergone irradiation.
A medical isotope is an isotope used in medicine. The first uses of isotopes in medicine were in radiopharmaceuticals , and this is still the most common use. However more recently, separated stable isotopes have come into use.
These include radiotherapy in medical applications; the use of radioactive tracers within industry, science and the environment, and the use of radiation to modify materials such as polymers. [1] It also includes the study and use of nuclear processes in non-radioactive areas of human activity.