What You Need to Know
Phytosanitary irradiation is a treatment that uses ionizing radiation on commodities, such as fruits and vegetables to inactivate pests, such as insects. This method is used for international food trade as a means to prevent spread of non-native organisms. It is used as an alternative to conventional techniques, which includes heat treatment, cold treatment, pesticide sprays, high pressure treatment, cleaning, waxing or chemical fumigation. It is often used on spices, grains, and non-food items. It inhibits the species reproduction cycle by destroying nuclear material primarily, whereas other methods are measured by species mortality. Each country has different effective approved dosages, although most follow guidelines established by the IPPC which has issued guidelines referred to as the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM). The most commonly used dose is 400 Gy based on USDA-APHIS guidelines.
Steps
- 1.
Tropical fruit exports (Hawaii) (United States): Enables international trade of fresh papaya and other tropical fruits without chemical fumigation
- 2.
Spice preservation (India) (India): Maintains microbial safety of spices while preserving volatile flavor compounds better than heat treatment
- 3.
Grain quarantine (Australia) (Australia): Prevents introduction of foreign pests while maintaining grain quality for milling and baking