Food irradiation testing: All paprika are equal, but some are more equal than others

摘要

Food irradiation testing of paprika has become standard and is described several CEN and ISO documents. The protocols for Thermiluminescence testing and Photostimulated Luminescence can be found in the ISO documents 1788 and 13751, respectively. The protocols appear to be straight forward and clearly outline the procedure to follow for herbs and spices, which are next to dietary supplements the most likely products found in Europe to have been irradiated. Most paprika show the expected glowcurves andPSL readings, but the amount of minerals to be isolated is correlated with the ASTA value of the paprika. The higher the ASTA value, the fewer minerals are to be expected. This obviously influences the preparation procedure. Unfortunately, the ASTA value is often not provided which makes it more difficult for the laboratories to apply the best possible extraction in terms of starting weight of the sample. However, this was only one interesting observation. More importantly, some not-irradiated paprikaof a particular origin showed peaks which would indicated irradiation but irradiation of the actual sample resulted in peaks at a very different position. Here is a potential for false-positive judgment of the results and only additional procedures ensured that correct judgment could be applied.