Determination of dose and method limits

For legal evaluation of food samples it is very important to know the applied dose. In general there is a correlation between dose and concentration of hydrocarbons or cyclobutanones. It is possible to estimate the dose by reirradiation of the sample. The range of concentration is known for materials 

The method described can be used only in samples with a high content of fat. Total lipids should be present as over 10% in dry matter. The accuracy depends also on the fatty acid composition. Lipids with a characteristic main component will also show one main cyclobutanone. In the case of an equal distribution of different fatty acids the concentration of derived cyclobuta-nones will be low. In most cases DCB, TCB and TECB are useful indicator substances for identifying irradiated foods. 

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