Invisible helpers: Nuclear technology to protect food quality

Nuclear technologies like ionising radiation prolong products shelf life. For Tanzania, the application of these technologies represents an opportunity to effectively address the challenges of food security and the supply of fruit abroad. This, in turn, should boost the country’s export potential.

“While nuclear energy is a new area for us, we are already actively developing our uranium resources and hope for rapid development and significant investment in this sector in the near future. We have planning horizons up to 2050 and we see growing demand and changes in this field.

To address food security challenges, we intend to consider the possibility of combining different energy sources. We aim to have the mining industry account for 10% of our GDP by 2025, and uranium mining will play a vital role in achieving this goal,” remarked Doto Mashaka Biteko, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy of the United Republic of Tanzania, at the Second Russia-Africa Summit.

A huge amount of food is wasted globally every year. According to The World Counts, 1.3 billion tonnes of edible food is sent to landfill because it is either not consumed or cannot be preserved. In agriculture, fruit and vegetables go to waste due to crop pests and diseases, inefficient harvesting methods, and poorly organised transport and storage.

These problems can be solved by innovative technologies for processing meat, fish, cereals, spices, vegetables and fruits, including nuclear methods.

The use of nuclear technology in agriculture, food production and storage is widespread throughout the world. Ionising radiation technology has been known since the early 1940s.

Also read: ROSATOM Showcases Next-Gen Nuclear Technologies at Enlit Africa 2024

In food processing, a radioactive source generates charged particles or waves that, as they pass through the base material, interact with other particles and break chemical bonds. The short-lived radicals damage the DNA or RNA of pathogenic organisms, making their cells less likely to divide and grow further.

The amount of commodities irradiated for phytosanitary treatment worldwide has increased significantly over the past 15 years to nearly 100,000 tonnes per year, according to the UN. Irradiation of food is a process in which products are exposed to ionising radiation in order to increase their safety and extend their shelf life.

This method effectively destroys pathogenic microorganisms and also slows down the processes of rotting and spoilage of food. Irradiation not only improves the quality and safety of food, but also preserves its nutrients and flavour.

“Sufficient food supply is a vital aspect of country’s prosperity. And modern scientific solutions that encourage the yields volume growth, eliminate products wastage are important for sustainable life.

“Nuclear technologies are among those modern scientific solutions. The use of irradiation helps to prolong food life and make them more beneficial for export while minimising spoiled products, eliminating consumption risks and environmental stress from increasing waste level,” Professor Najat Mohammed, Director General of Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission notes.

Irradiated food is different from that has been contaminated by radiation due to nuclear incidents. Vegetables, fruits, convenience foods and other products exposed to sources of ionising radiation do not become radioactive. The amount of energy used to effectively irradiate the food is small compared to the energy used in cooking. Numerous safety assessments by government agencies have confirmed that irradiated foods are safe for consumption.

In 2021, the IAEA Coordinated Research Project confirmed the feasibility of using Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) and soft X-rays to reduce parasite infestation and microbial contamination. “Ionising radiation has no significant impact on food products, but effectively destroys microbes and invasive insects, which in turn facilitates international trade”, notes Carl Blackburn, food irradiation specialist at the FAO/IAEA Joint Centre for Nuclear Techniques in Agriculture. One of the main effects of radiation treatment is to extend the shelf life of food. Treated fruit and vegetables can be stored two to three times longer because microorganisms do not reproduce in them.

Currently, more than 60 countries around the world have adopted regulations authorising the use of irradiation for food products, including spices, grains, fruits, vegetables and meat. At the same time, many countries, including EU states, include irradiation in the list of requirements for imported fruits and vegetables, including those from Africa.

Tanzania plans to utilise this technology in the near future by commissioning a multi-disciplinary irradiator in Dar es Salaam to treat different products simultaneously to improve their quality and safety.

The irradiator will use gamma radiation to kill germs and insects, as well as treat food, packaging, spices, fruits, plants and medical supplies.

The country faces a lack of technology for efficient storage and export of products, which emphasises the need to introduce new equipment. It is already being used around the world with the support of leading companies in the nuclear industry.

Last year, Rosatom expanded its network of multi-purpose ionising radiation product processing centres. Moreover, the company is actively promoting the development of the multipurpose centre industry in other states with projects in Uzbekistan, Bolivia and the Republic of Bangladesh.