DETECTION OF IRRADIATED FOODS BY ESR AND TL METHODS IN THE SCOPE OF INTERCOMPARISON TESTS

Abstract

Different kinds of foodstuffs such as spices and legumes (leguminosae) have been investigated whether they are irradiated or not according to TS EN standards. These investigations have been performed as intercomparion tests on detection of irradiated foodstuffs between different laboratories in Radiation and Accelerator Technologies Department (earlier called Sarayköy Nuclear Research and Training Center -SANAEM) of Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEA) and Magnetic Resonance Laboratory of Physics Engineering Department in Hacettepe University to fulfill the accreditation requirements of TS EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard. SANAEM's Quality Management Section (QMS) organized these intercomparison tests by carrying out stages such as the provision of foodstuffs, irradiation, distribution of samples to laboratories and evaluation of results. The samples were irradiated with Co-60 gamma cell at the SANAEM. Randomly coded samples were provided to the laboratories. The foodstuffs samples were analyzed using various methods proposed as EN standards: (1) Physical techniques TS EN 1787: Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) technique for foodstuffs containing cellose and TS EN 1788: thermoluminescence (TL) technique and biological techniques. The results evaluation was done according to criteria as correctly detection of irradiated /unirradiated samples by the QMS. We present here the details of physical methods applying ESR ans TL techniques to detect irradiated/unirradiated foods which were chickpea, beans, lentil red, red mullet,lentil green, mint, cumin, ground cumin, thyme, black pepper, red pepper and pistachio. As QMS reported, the results of ESR and TL methods were considered satisfactory like all methods. It can be concluded that immediate reach of samples to the laboratories after irradiation and relatively higher irradiation doses of samples lead to all methods being successful in this intercomparison tests, even though biological techniques are screening methods.

Keywords

• Keywords: foodstuffs,irradiation,EN 1787 -1788,ESR and TL

Supporting Institution

TAEK

Project Number

A3.H1.P5.07

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