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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.
Irradiation is the use of ionising gamma rays emitted by cobalt-60 and caesium-137, or, high-energy electrons and X-rays to inactivate microbial pathogens, particularly in the food industry. Bacteria such as Deinococcus radiodurans are particularly resistant to radiation, but are not pathogenic. [ 1 ]
For example, irradiated spices or fresh strawberries should be labeled. Irradiation labeling does not apply to restaurant foods or processed foods. [ 10 ] ( NOTE: The Radura symbol as compulsory under FDA-rule has a design slightly different from the Codex Alimentarius version; [ 3 ] the 'leaves' being empty areas.)
Radiation damage is the effect of ionizing radiation on physical objects including non-living structural materials. It can be either detrimental or beneficial for materials. It can be either detrimental or beneficial for materials.
Below is an example from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on how different types of food contain small amounts of radiation. [23] The sources of radiation are radioactive potassium-40 (40K), radium-226 (226Ra), and other atoms: [23]
The sterilizing effects of ionizing radiation are useful for cleaning medical instruments, food irradiation, and the sterile insect technique. Measurements of carbon-14, can be used to date the remains of long-dead organisms (such as wood that is thousands of years old).
An "incident" of chemical food contamination may be defined as an episodic occurrence of adverse health effects in humans (or animals that might be consumed by humans) following high exposure to particular chemicals, or instances where episodically high concentrations of chemical hazards were detected in the food chain and traced back to a particular event.
[23] [24] Consumers may have a negative view of irradiated food based on the misconception that such food is radioactive; [25] in fact, irradiated food does not and cannot become radioactive. Activists have also opposed food irradiation for other reasons, for example, arguing that irradiation can be used to sterilize contaminated food without ...