Identification of Irradiated Spaghetti Sauces Using Different Physical Techniques

Abstract

Gamma‐irradiated (0, 1, 5 and 10 kGy) spaghetti sauce samples were identified using photostimulated luminescence (PSL), thermoluminescence (TL) and electron spin resonance (ESR) techniques. PSL technique was used as a screening method for irradiated sauce samples, where the improved results of PSL method were observed for the freeze‐dried and alcoholic‐extracted samples. TL technique, through the density separation step of silicate minerals from irradiated samples, gave specific shape, intensity and occurrence of TL glow curve in a typical temperature range as well as TL ratio (TL 1/TL 2) to identify the irradiation treatment. The ESR method employed for the freeze‐dried samples, showed radiation‐specific cellulose signals for 5 and 10 kGy‐treated samples, and the results were comparable with oven‐dried samples. In general, TL technique was found the most sensitive and reliable for the identification of irradiated spaghetti sauces. Practical Applications The safety of food irradiation is well documented; however, this technique lacks international consensus for general applicability. Validated identification methods have prime importance for the application of different regulations regarding the international trade of irradiated food. This study comprehensively investigated the potential of different available techniques for the identification of irradiated sauce samples. Liquid samples were treated with different modified methods to find the improved identification results. The presented results may be useful for different regulatory authorities to identify or monitor irradiated spaghetti sauces.

Assessment of Microbial and Radioactive Contaminations in Korean Cold Duck Meats and Electron-Beam Application for Quality Improvement

“…DEFT shows the number of both viable and non-viable cells from the samples, while APC shows the number of viable cells only from the sample ( Akram et al , 2012 ). DEFT/APC technique confirms the microbial decontamination by some previous processing operations.…”

Effects of sample pretreatments on EPR spectral characteristics of irradiated sea algae – an advanced approach to identify irradiation status

“…Sample pretreatments aer radiation processing of foods have also been observed as an alternative approach to address the problem of identifying short-lived radiation induced signals. Many researchers have studied various sample preparations such as freeze-drying, 17 oven-drying, 20 or other techniques 21 to detect irradiated foods.…”

Alcoholic Extraction Enables EPR Analysis To Characterize Radiation-Induced Cellulosic Signals in Spices

“…To investigate the radiation-induced free radicals in the dried spice samples, three different sample pretreatments were conducted to decrease the moisture content of the spices prior to the EPR measurements: FD: Freeze-drying (Bondiro, Ilsin Bio Base, Yangju, Kyunggido, Korea) of the samples OD: Oven-drying (HB-502M, Hanbaek Scientific Co., Bucheon, Kyunggido, Korea) AE: Alcoholic extraction of the samples was carried out as described by de Jesus et al Approximately 6 g of the spice samples was put into a beaker containing 40 mL of an 80% ethyl alcohol solution in deionized water.…”

“…Raffi and Stocker 15 observed that even though electron paramagnetic resonance is known to be a very sensitive method, in the case of spices, it did not lead to favorable results because the main radiation-induced signal decreased too fast with the storage time and disappeared before the maximal general commercial storage time. Thus, many researchers have attempted to address this problem by studying various irradiated foods using freeze-drying, 16 oven-drying, 17 or other techniques. 18 However, very little is known about the EPR characteristics of irradiated spices subjected to alcoholic extraction processes for the detection of irradiation.…”