ABSTRACT
In 1950 John T. R. Nickerson et al. reported on the treatment of mackerel fillets with a cathode ray dose of 1.5 million rep. This appears to be the first literature report on the treatment of fish with ionizing radiation. Radicidation would describe the irradiation treatment for eliminating nonspore-forming pathogens and radicidation would apply to the process of nonselective reduction in the total microbial count to extend shelf life similar to heat pasteurization. The Marine Products Development Irradiator, which is located at the Gloucester Laboratory of the National Marine Fisheries Service in close proximity to many fresh-fish processing plants, is a semicommercial-scale production facility with an irradiation capability of 1000 lb (454 kg)/hr at a dose of 0.5 Mrad. Fatty fish and shellfish which have relatively strong tastes that tend to mask the off-flavors which develop from irradiation can, however, be exposed to doses that exceed 300 krad.
