Re: Food irradiation - what survival levels are aimed for?

["Otto G. Raabe" <ograabe@ucdavis.edu>]

December 4, 1997
Davis, CA

I believe that the food irradiators utilize experimental data that they
obtain with various food items to determining the fractional reduction of
specific types of bacteria at specified treatment doses. Usually this is
expressed in orders of magnitude reduction. So, for example a dose of one
kGy might reduce a particular bacterium by 10^6, but this would mean there
would still be some (10^[-6])viable bacteria remaining. 

Otto
		*****************************************************
		Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP
                [President, Health Physics Society, 1997-1998]
		Institute of Toxicology & Environmental Health (ITEH)
		     (Street address: Old Davis Road)
		University of California, Davis, CA 95616
		Phone: 530-752-7754     FAX: 530-758-6140
		E-Mail: ograabe@ucdavis.edu
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