Employing ionizing radiation to enhance food safety - A review

Abstract

Food irradiation has been employed to ensure food safety or food sterility, extend its shelf-life and reduce the losses due to sprouting and ripening or pests. In the Czech Republic, mainly spices, mixed spices and dried vegetable are exposed to ionizing radiation. The greatest suppliers of irradiated foodstuffs in Europe are Belgium, France and the Netherlands. In the USA, food irradiation is more common and there are also attempts to enforce irradiation not only for food safety, but also for technological purposes. Even though irradiation is a prospective technology, its application causes physical-chemical and biochemical changes that may affect nutritional adequacy and sensory characteristics of irradiated food. In this paper, the chemical changes of basic food components (proteins, saccharides, fats) are reviewed. The chemical changes result in radiolytic products whose risks are still subject of scientific research. It is expected that the main use of gamma irradiation will be treatment of diets for patients suffering from different disorders of the immune system, allergic patients or for the army and space flights. In the production of raw or heat non-processed foodstuffs, irradiation may be a critical control point (CCP).