[Food irradiation].

A worldwide standard on food irradiation was adopted in 1983 by Codex Alimentarius Commission of the Joint Food Standard Programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO). As a result, 41 countries have approved the use of irradiation for treating one or more food items and the number is increasing. Generally, irradiation is used to: food loses, food spoilage, disinfestation, safety and hygiene. The number of countries which use irradiation for processing food for commercial purposes has been increasing steadily from 19 in 1987 to 33 today. In the frames of the national programme on the application of irradiation for food preservation and hygienization an experimental plant for electron beam processing has been established in Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology. The plant is equipped with a small research accelerator Pilot (19MeV, 1 kW) and an industrial unit Elektronika (10MeV, 10 kW). On the basis of the research there were performed at different scientific institutions in Poland, health authorities have issued permission for irradiation for: spices, garlic, onions, mushrooms, potatoes, dry mushrooms and vegetables.