Advantages and Disadvantages of Food Irradiation

Food Preservation Storage

Lesson 13: Food irradiation

Advantages and Disadvantages of Food Irradiation

The advantages and disadvantages of food irradiation are enlisted in .

Advantages and disadvantages of food Irradiation:

Benefits Limitations
Radiation processing does not change texture and freshness of food, unlike heat. In fact, it is difficult to distinguish between irradiated and non-irradiated food on the basis of colour, flavour, taste, aroma or appearance. Radiation processing cannot be applied to all kinds of foods.
Radiation processing does not affect significantly nutritional value, flavour, texture and appearance of food. Radiation processing cannot make a bad or spoiled food look good i.e. it is not a magic wand.
Radiation cannot induce any radioactivity in food and does not leave any harmful or toxic radioactive residues on foods as is the case with chemical fumigants. It cannot destroy already present pesticides and toxins in foods.
It is a very effective method due to its highly penetrating nature of the radiation energy and can be used on packed food commodities. Compliance of a particular food commodity to radiation processing has to be tested first in a laboratory.
Prepackaged foods can be made sterile thus improving shelf-life. Only those foods for which specific benefits are achieved by applying appropriate doses and those duly permitted under the PFA Rules, (1955) and now FSSA regulations (2011) can be processed by radiation.
The radiation processing facilities are environment friendly and are safe to workers and public around.

--


Source: http://www.barc.ernet.in/bmg/ftd/index.html

Index
Previous
Home
Next
Last modified: Tuesday, 13 March 2012, 9:06 AM