Irradiation is a way to preserve foods. When you use this method to keep a food fresh, does it slow the growth of bacteria growing or does it completely wipe out all bacteria?
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Does the preservation method of irradiation slow growth of bacteria or destroy cells completely ?
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2 Responses to Does the preservation method of irradiation slow growth of bacteria or destroy cells completely ?
irradiation destroys the dna killing the cells
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Radiation kills the bacteria, it is of a sufficient level to destroy 99.9%
The killing effect of irradiation on microbes is measured in D-values. One D-value is the amount of irradiation needed to kill 90% of that organism. For example, it takes 0.3 kilo-Grays to kill 90% of E. coli O157, so the D-value of E. coli is 0.3 kGy. These numbers can be added exponentially. It takes two D (or 0.6 kGy in the case of E. coli) to kill 99% of the organisms present, 3 D (or 0.9 kGy) to kill 99.9% and so on. Thus, once you know the D-value for an organism, and how many organisms might possibly be present in a food, the technician can estimate how much irradiation it will take to kill all of them. For example, if you think that a thousand E. coli O157 could be present in a food, then you want to be able to treat with at least 4 D, or 4 x 0.3 kGy, or 1.2 kGy. The D-values are different for each organism, and need to be measured for each organism. They can even vary by temperature, and by the specific food.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodirradiation.htm
http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/food.htm
http://www.iaea.org/programmes/nafa/d5/public/foodirradiation.pdf
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