Irradiation and Food: Good or Bad?

A warm welcome to my blog once again. I must confess, Steem community is "amazeballs". I mean, there's a lot to learn while also having fun at it and that's just great.

So today, I'd like to take us through something most people might probably know but still have reservations about; it's about irradiation, what it is and what it can do for our food.

Often times, we visit super marts and malls and see irradiated, packaged products and the first thing that comes to mind is "is it safe?", sometimes we're like "I can't take this stuff, I don't want cancer in my life". Funny right, but its true...

Irradiation, also known as radiation therapy or radiotherapy is when high energy sources (such as gamma rays, x-rays, or neutrons) are used on a body or object for healing or sterilization purposes or generally to bring about desired results

I think I should quickly point out that radiation should not be mixed up with irradiation; when particles are emitted by radioactive sources (such as sun, rocks, radioactive elements like Cobalt-60 and Caesium-137), it is known as "radiation" while irradiation is when these emitted particles are exposed to a body or object (such as food).

Did you know???

"National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts flying in space eat irradiated meat in order to avoid foodborne illnesses" (source)

Irradiation is administered in doses and the dosage forms the critical control point of irradiation hence, there's need to carefully control irradiation process.

According to the standard international unit, the amount of radiation dose absorbed by a tissue or body (absorbed dose) is measured in Gray (Gy) while, radioactivity, which is the amount of radiation emitted from an atom upon spontaneous decay is measured in Becquerels (Bq). You can learn more about dosimetry in food irradiation here

Irradiation is most commonly used in medicine in areas of nuclear medicine, oncology (cancer treatment), radiology, dental care, mammography, cardiology and so on. I'm sure we've at one time or the other gone through some certain forms or level of exposure to radiation, majorly through x-ray examinations so medical irradiation may not be new and of course is not our focus for today.

However, it is important to be enlightened on the applications of irradiation to food, shall we...

An irradiated food is that food which has been exposed to controlled doses of ionizing radiation so as to achieve non-thermal sterility and rid the food of hazards resulting from heat sterilization processes.

Hence, food irradiation can then be seen as the use of ionizing radiations on food in order to enhance food safety, inhibit sprouting in bulbs, tubers and root crops, extend shelf life by preventing spoilage by pathogenic and/or spoilage microorganisms, delay ripening in fruits, control insect infestation and reduce use of chemicals like pesticides or insecticides.

Did you know??

"Foods sterilized using irradiation can keep for several years without the need for further preservation methods like refigeration" source

Fret not, irradiation won't make your food radioactive, rather it is a form of "cold pasteurization" method which does not significantly affect the nutritional quality, taste, appearance, flavor or even texture of food. As a matter of fact, irradiation leaves no significant changes in your food, you wouldn't even know except for the "radura sign"...

So you're wondering, what's the "radura sign"???

This is the international symbol for irradiation, it is usually printed on the packages of irradiated foods, with the phrase "treated with irradiation". This is not only required to keep consumers informed but also imperative by law which is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and endorsed by the World Health Organization, United States Department of Agriculture as well as other relevant bodies.

^{Radura Symbol. Source:Wikimedia - CC BY-SA 3.0.}

How then does Food Irradiation work??

Food Irradiation uses radiant energy from electrons, gamma or x-rays to break chemical bonds in foods, leaving the food still fresh, but with added benefits, depending on intended objective and treatment level. These three sources of energy (electrons, gamma rays and x-rays) are the approved sources of ionizing radiations used for food, gamma rays being the most common as it can naturally be obtained from the radioactive decay of Cobalt-60 or Caesium-137 while electrons and x-rays are machine generated.

Foods are irradiated in a "food irradiation facility" which is expected to be located far away from residential areas in case of any hazard(s) and must be set up according to relevant laws guiding such purpose. The radiation source forms the name of the facility hence we have the the Cobalt 60 gamma facility, the electron beam facility and the x-ray facility.

_{Irradiation Facility. Source: Wikimedia CC BY SA 3.0}

Regardless of which source is being used, each irradiation facility is expected to have basic requirements which I will summarize below;

Radiation source - either gamma rays, x-rays or electron beams to be used for the irradiation procedure.

Irradiation room - where the treatment takes place; in other wlrds, this is where food products are exposed to the ionizing radiation. For a Cobalt-60 gamma facility, it is not safe to enter the irradiation room except the cobalt is immersed in water.

Radiation shield - to prevent escape of radiation source into the environment. For instance, concrete walls are used as shield for gamma rays while metal is used for electron beams.

Controller - treatment is determined by the speed of the conveyor belt hence the need for a controller to regulate the speed of the conveyor belt.

Loading and Unloading Product Sections - the loading section is the conveyor carrying packaged products to be treated while the unloading section is the conveyor that carries treated products away from the irradiator.

Having said all these, I know someone would want to question why I have not mentioned any adverse effect(s) of this awesome food processing/preservation method. There's really nothing that has an advantage without its limitations, however the important thing is to check if the advantages outweigh the constraints.

The major limitation of food irradiation after consumer acceptance is the high cost of setting up an irradiation facility. You would want to reconsider setting up a facility when people have not been adequately educated on the safety of food irradiation.

Another is that irradiation does not guarantee 100% food safety and you will agree with me that this is so for some other processing/preservation methods.

Irradiation might result in unpleasant sensory qualities. One of such examples is the odour of irradiated beef; colour and texture changes also occurs but not in all cases.

Irradiation has been shown to predispose foods to loss of vitamins especially Thiamine.

On a final note, I think one important thing to note is irradiation does not replace proper food handling methods hence irradiated foods still needs to be properly stored to prevent recontamination. I really do hope my dear country Nigeria would get to the point where food irradiation will help us conserve our crops and prevent unwanted post harvest gluts thereby contributing positively to our economy.

Fam! Food Irradiation is a welcome development.

Thank you for your time, see you guys around and Happy Steeming

REFERENCES

Food Irradiation: What You Need to Know.

Answers to questions about radiation and you.

Measuring Radiation: Terminology and Units.

6 Advantages and Disadvantages of Food Irradiation

Medical Definition of Irradiation

How does food irradiation work?

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