Trends in Radiation Processing of Food in India

Conference: Second International Conference on Applications of Radiation Science and Technology (ICARST-2021),Vienna, Austria 19–23 April 2021

Introduction:

Radiation processing in India began with the commissioning of a Co-60 gamma irradiator Isomed at Trombay in 1974 which was meant for sterilization of disposable medical products. This paved way for more such plants in the country. Setting up of Spice Plant at Vashi in 2000 marked the beginning of radiation processing of food products. By the year 2005, this plant started processing more than 5000 tons of materials per year and helped in establishing radiation processing of food in the country.

Current Trends:

Availability of local agencies which could design, construct and operate the gamma irradiators for bulk irradiation, assurance on supply of Co-60 with clear disposal path paved way for large scale deployment of such plants in the country. As India has huge landscape with concentrated pockets of population at large number of places, gamma irradiation offers an ideal solution. Currently there are 20 such facilities out of which 5 can cater to low/medium dose and rest are for medium/high dose services. Accelerator based radiation processing systems also have made inroads but are popular for cross-linking purposes in cable industry.

Currently, spices and allied products are the major products which include items such as onion powder and flakes, psyllium husk, milled cereals, herbal materials, food colour, animal feed and packaging materials. All these items are for microbial decontamination. In fruits only quarantine treatment of mango and pomegranate for export purposes is being carried out so far. For mango, a combination treatment has enabled the shelf life to be extended up to 45 days making it suitable for exports in larger quantities by sea route making it much more commercially attractive. It will be very convenient to add more items for quarantine purposes easily. In the category of vegetables, onion irradiation for sprout inhibition has been done to a very limited extent. There are number of other products which are being tried by using combination technique for commercial exploitation. Majority of radiation processing is for export purposes only. Research is on-going on number of potential candidates which will open up this process for higher domestic use. Majority of food irradiation being carried out is for export purposes only. Research is being carried out on number of potential candidates for food irradiation which will open up this process for higher domestic use.

Future Potential:

In the years to come, it is expected that radiation processing will find extensive use in disinfestation of milled products in which lot of wastage occurs. Apart from that its use for extension of shelf life of fast perishing produce such as lychee and strawberries are expected to pick up. Convenience foods such as cut vegetables, ready-to-cook meat products and disinfestation of dried fruits and fish is expected to result in increase in the quantities of radiation processed products in India.