ABSTRACT
All fruits and vegetables are perishable due to physiological changes, postharvest fungal diseases, other pathological breakdown, and insect infestation. Low-dose gamma radiation has been suggested and studied as a practical means of treating fresh fruits and vegetables for: disinfestation, shelf-life extension, and pasteurization. The applied dose level for radurization has been as high as 5 to 6 kGy. On fruits and vegetables, studies have been carried out for the purpose of radurization rather than radicidation. Taking full account of the available literature, the chapter explains the discussion of problems and the state-of-the-art of radurization of fruits and vegetables. M. Ingram and T. A. Roberts' pointed out that the aim of radicidation is to remove microorganisms hazardous to public health by the application of low-dose gamma radiation. The purpose of radicidation is to exert bacteriocidal effects on foods by ionizing radiation and it has been proposed to apply it in particular to frozen or dried foods.
