RADIATION-CHEMICAL APPROACH TO THE EVALUATION OF THE POSSIBLE TOXICITY OF IRRADIATED FRUITS .1. EFFECT OF PROTECTION BY CARBOHYDRATES

Radiation-chemical principles are applied in an attempt to identify only those components in a foodstuff likely to undergo chemical change during ionising radiation. The stabilities of some components of a representative fruit (mango) with respect to irradiation were determined. The rate constants of the reactions of the constituents with hydroxyl radicals were then calculated. These constants and the concentrations of the components in the fruit were used to calculate the stabilities of the constituents in the actual fruit. The only compounds to undergo significant modifications are the sugars which account for nearly 99% of the reactions. The other components which are slightly reactive are starch (0·2%), protein (0·2%), phenol (0·4%) and ascorbic acid (0·2%). Therefore only carbohydrate degradation need be considered. Furthermore, carbohydrate reactivity tends to protect the other components from degradative changes. © 1978.