ABSTRACT
An important factor for increasing the commercialization of phytosanitary irradiation (PI) is the adoption of generic doses in international and national regulatory frameworks. A limiting factor to accelerating the use of PI is the availability of information on commodity tolerance for the wide range of horticultural products that might be eligible for treatment with PI. The International Database on Insect Disinfestation and Sterilization (IDIDAS) created by the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency (FAO/IAEA) Program for Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture contains an extensive collection of international research on PI. The International Database on Commodity Tolerance (IDCT; https://nucleus.iaea.org/sites/naipc/IDCT/Pages/default.aspx), also created under the auspices of the Joint Program, contains information on the reaction of fresh horticultural commodities including fruit, vegetables, flowers, roots, and tubers, to radiation. Data were extracted from scientific publications from 1950 to the present. The procedure was to collect defined data elements for reporting in a consistent manner. The information used for the database focused on the parameters of specific treatments and conditions. The concepts of “market acceptance” and “market rejection” were determined based on factors associated with how the radiation dose (or range of doses) affected acceptance or rejection of the commodity by taking into account the damage from the treatment and handling conditions in each research scenario. Approximately 415 articles were reviewed: 336 articles corresponded to 48 different fruit species; 47 articles corresponded to tubers and vegetables; and 35 articles covered 21 species of flowers. The database can be searched by commodity using the common name, cultivar, or Latin name as well as by genus and family. Each study lists the respective reference and listings are illustrated with the Google photo gallery. The availability of this information in the IDCT database greatly facilitates the process of identifying potential trade opportunities using PI and helps highlight where commodity tolerance research is sufficient or is still needed.
