What is Food Irradiation?

Radiation technology is already used in medical diagnoses and treatment through the use of x-rays, and nuclear medicine. It is commonly used in the treatment of cancer. Radiation technology is also used in a variety of detection and measurement instruments in industry (including the food and bottling industries).
In food irradiation, food is exposed to a carefully measured amount of intense radiant energy, called ionizing radiation. This is done in a special processing room or chamber for a specified duration of time. Radiant energy (electrons, gamma rays, or x-rays) breaks chemical bonds in foods, just as in cooking, but so few bonds are broken that the food is like fresh.

A low level treatment, would stop the sprouting of foods like onions and potatoes, which means they stay fresh longer. With additional treatment, insects which would eat fruit or grains are destroyed. A higher treatment acts as a "cold pasteurization" and destroys a significant amount of bacteria, molds and insects that could lead to foodborne disease or spoilage on foods such as dry herbs and spices or chicken. Still higher treatment is used to make food "shelf stable," like canned food, but without the flavor changes characteristic of canned food.

However, food irradiation cannot replace proper food handling, enhance food that is deteriorated, contaminated or of inferior quality, or  prevent contamination from improper handling after irradiation. Irradiation is an option as part of a total system to improve food hygiene throughout the food processing and handling chain.

And similar to other processing methods, not all types of food can be treated with ionising radiation. For example, many dairy products treated with ionising radiation develop objectionable changes in flavour, odour and colour even at low doses. Whole eggs are another product which may not be successfully treated.