Dose-rate effect of low-energy electron beam irradiation on bacterial content in chilled turkey

Abstract

This study provides the results of the experimental research involving 1 MeV electron treatment of chilled turkey meat with the dose rates of 1 Gy/sec, 10 Gy/sec and 100 Gy/sec. It was found that the doses exceeding 2 kGy decrease bacterial content in turkey meat at least 100 times with the dose rate ranging from 1 Gy/sec to 100 Gy/sec. Irradiation with the dose rates 1 Gy/sec and 10 Gy/sec significantly reduces the number of pathogens with doses up to 1 kGy to compare with treatment using 100 Gy/sec. Microbiological parameters of the samples irradiated with 2 kGy coincide within statistical margin of error at all dose rates. Electron treatment with dose rate 100 Gy/sec shows a more considerable reduction in bacterial content at the doses exceeding 3 kGy. Thus, the study shows the nonlinear dependence of viable cells in chilled turkey irradiated with low-energy accelerated electrons in the range from 0.25 kGy to 3 kGy on the dose rate.