Topic > How Radiation Can Affect Plant Life: Food Irradiation

Before I clarify how radiation can affect plant life, I must first explain what radiation is and how it is able to affect substances. Radiation comes from many places, from the Sun, to things that individuals produce such as cell phones, TVs, radios, and much more. Radiation is not always dangerous. It could be very dangerous depending on the type of radiation applied and the duration of exposure. Radiation is of two types: non-ionizing, which is mostly risk-free, and ionizing. A high-energy dose can cause damage within an organism. Radiation energy is transferred by particles or waves. While non-ionizing radiation is low energy, ionizing radiation is extremely high energy and can break chemical bonds. This means that it can change the charge of an atom that interacts with it. This can also damage and destroy the nucleus of an atom, directly affecting a creature's DNA. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Food irradiation is a food protection technology designed to eliminate disease-causing germs from foods. Treating foods with ionizing radiation can kill bacteria, parasites and germs that would otherwise cause multiple diseases. Similar knowledge is used to eliminate medical devices so they can be used in surgery or implanted without danger of infection. The effects of irradiation on foods, animals, and people who eat irradiated foods have been extensively studied and considered. These studies obviously show that when approved irradiation is applied to foods, pathogenic germs are reduced, the food does not become radioactive, dangerous substances do not appear in the food and the nutritional value of the food remains essentially unchanged. There are three sources that can be used for food irradiation: electron beam, beta rays and gamma rays. With the electron beam the electrons are ejected from the electron diamond with high energy, the electrons can only break through the food to a depth of three centimeters (cm). Gamma and beta rays are different, since food is exposed to a radiation source for a certain period of time, dosimeters (dosimeter is an instrument that measures exposure to ionizing radiation) are placed with the food to adjust the amount of radiation the food receives. nullify the effect of radiation, the radiation beam is placed in a container filled with water, so the extra radiation does not escape when using gamma radiators the radioactive source is always under water. So, using beta rays, gamma rays and electron beam we can deal with the food irradiation process. Examples of food irradiation: bacon Wheat flour Potatoes Spices Pork Fruits and vegetables Poultry Beef Chicken Lamb Eggs Frozen foods Deli meats Iceberg lettuce Spinach Shellfish Irradiation on vegetables brings many advantages such as increasing food safety, as well as reducing foodborne illnesses ; Irradiation can also be used to extend the shelf life of foods by breaking down or inactivating organisms that cause the body's tissues and cells to break down. There are also no chemical residues, as the World Health Organization has stated that “irradiation does not make foods radioactive, does not compromise the nutritional quality or appreciably change the taste, texture or appearance of the food”. Also many,.