Dose-rate effect of low-energy electron beam irradiation on bacterial content in chilled turkey

Abstract

This study provides the results of the experimental research involving 1 MeV electron treatment of chilled turkey meat with the dose rates of 1 Gy/sec, 10 Gy/sec and 100 Gy/sec. It was found that the doses exceeding 2 kGy decrease bacterial content in turkey meat at least 100 times with the dose rate ranging from 1 Gy/sec to 100 Gy/sec. Irradiation with the dose rates 1 Gy/sec and 10 Gy/sec significantly reduces the number of pathogens with doses up to 1 kGy to compare with treatment using 100 Gy/sec. Microbiological parameters of the samples irradiated with 2 kGy coincide within statistical margin of error at all dose rates. Electron treatment with dose rate 100 Gy/sec shows a more considerable reduction in bacterial content at the doses exceeding 3 kGy. Thus, the study shows the nonlinear dependence of viable cells in chilled turkey irradiated with low-energy accelerated electrons in the range from 0.25 kGy to 3 kGy on the dose rate.

Comparative effect of gamma and electron beam irradiation on some food borne pathogenic bacteria contaminating meat products

“…In other investigation, the doses of EBI greater than 2.0 kGy reduced bacterial counts in chilled turkey flesh by at least 100 times, with dosage ratios ranging from 1 Gy/sec to 100 Gy/sec [31] . Moreover, EBI of 4.0 kGy reduced the amount of L. monocytogenes and E. coli inoculated in beef loin by 6.7 logs, the population of these pathogens was below the detection limit (10 CFU/g) after irradiation at 5.0 kGy [32] .…”