Sterilized foods, irradiation

Cobalt-60 Reactor Cancer therapy sterilization food irradiation waste treatment industrial radiography gauging devices mechanical wear studies... 

Tinplate Containers for Packaging Irradiation-Sterilized Foods... 

Chemical synthesis is one important aspect of the application of radiation-chemical reactions in industry. Various kinds of radiation-induced syntheses are available, some of which will be described here. There are also nonsynthetic applications including, but not limited to, food irradiation, waste treatment, and sterilization by irradiation. Some of these will be taken up in the next section. 

The food irradiation program in the United States is broad in scope and divided principally between the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the U. S. Army, with the Army s concentrating on meat sterilization and the AEC s concentrating on fruits, vegetables, and fish pasteurization. Sterilization and pasteurization are differentiated by both the... 

Cobalt-60. Cobalt-60 emits gamma and beta radiation and has a half-life of 5.26 years. Used to sterilize surgical instruments and to improve the safety and reliability of industrial fuel oil burners. Used in cancer treatment, food irradiation, gauges, and radiography. 

The concentration of a stable product in an irradiated food can be expressed using the G-value for either the product or its precursor radical and the absorbed dose. For example, the concentration of a product or products formed from the reaction of either es or OH with a solute in the fluid aqueous phase of a food irradiated to 4.5 kGy would be 1.2 mmol/L. In contrast to other pasteurization and sterilization treatments, irradiation produces a small and generally predictable amount of chemical change. 

Because of the dangerous and difficult aspects of obtaining high-level radioactive materials from a nuclear facility, there is a greater chance that the radioactive materials used in a dirty bomb would come from low-level radioactive sources. Low-level radioactive sources are found in hospitals, on construction sites, and at food irradiation plants. The sources in these areas are used to diagnose and treat illnesses, sterilize equipment, inspect welding seams, and irradiate food to kill harmful microbes. 

Co-60 is used medically for radiation therapy as implants and an external source of radiation expo.sure. It is used industrially in leveling gauges and to x-ray welding seams and other structural elements to detect flaws. Co-60 also is u.sed for food irradiation, a sterilization process. 

Food may also be sterilized and preserved by food irradiation. Gamma rays from a sealed source of °Co or Cs are used to kill microorganisms in over 40 countries. This process is less expensive than refrigeration, canning, or additives, and it does not make food radioactive. 

The dichromate dosimeter solution is of importance mainly for radiation sterilization and food irradiation applications both for gamma and electron dosimetry. Due to its very good reproducibility, the system is classified as a reference standard system (ASTM E 2628-2009) in the 5-50 kGy dose range and used widely also as a transfer standard dosimeter. 

In the United States, about 80 percent of disposable medical items (such as syringes, tubing, and gloves) are sterilized by irradiation and yet little of the food supply is so treated. 

Radiation-sterilized foods have been examined with EPR spectroscopy, the aim being to develop methods to determine if a particular food sample has been irradiated and to what dose. 

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