Food irradiation and nutrition
1979
Brynjolfsson, Ari
To kill surface and subsurface bacteria, fully packaged foods are sterilized by X-ray treatment. Irradiation reduces or eliminates salmonella in poultry, mold growth on strawberries, and sprout development in potatoes. Irradiation does not prevent enzymatic breakdowns, oxidative reactions or recontamination, but it does have a far lesser detrimental effect on the nutritional value of foods than heat processing. The changes caused by irradiation include the disruption of hydrogen bonds and the unfolding of molecules; irradiation of polysaccharides results in depolymerization and breakdown into simpler molecules. Resulting compounds may be toxic to single-cell organisms, but not to mammals. As a method of food preservation, irradiation has low energy requirements and should be of special interest to developing nations.
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