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Food irradiation is a complex multidisciplinary branch of food science, of which politics and emotion play as much a role as science. The science of food irradiation has been well developed in the past few decades with little application However events such as the increasing incidents of food-borne disease outbreaks and the increasing public demand for food safety, the global phase-out of methyl bromide and other fumigants for controlling insect infestation of food and agricultural commodities, and the more recent use of irradiation in postal services for inactivating anthrax spores have brought irradiation back onto the global agenda.
Irradiated foods are those that have been deliberately processed with certain types of radiation energy (cobalt 60 or cesium 137) to bring about some desirable properties, for example, to inhibit sprouting, extension of shelf life, insect disinfestations or parasite disinfections or elimination of pathogenic micro organisms. Apart from foodstuffs, many other materials are irradiated during manufacturing such as cosmetics, hospital supplies and medical products and some types of food packaging.
