INTERNATIONAL-COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF DETECTION OF IRRADIATED FOOD

A survey over recent international developments to detect the irradiation treatment of foods is given, in particular the programmes of ''ADMIT'' (FAO/IAEA) and of BCR (European Community). The need to detect radiation treatment by analysing the food itself is desirable to check compliance with existing regulations, such as the enforcement of labelling and control of prohibition, to enhance consumer confidence in the correct application of radiation processing, and to protect consumers' freedom of choice between irradiated or unirradiated food products. Some larger collaborative studies on an international scale have already taken place, e.g. ESR measurements of bones from chicken, pork, beef, frog legs and fish, thermoluminescence of insoluble minerals isolated from herbs and spices, gas chromatographic analysis of hydrocarbons and alkylcyclobutanones derived from the lipid fraction of chicken and the microbiological DEFT/APC procedure for spices. These methods could soon be implemented in international standard protocols.