Identification and stability study of irradiated chicken, pork, beef, lamb, fish and mollusk shells by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy

The application of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to the detection of irradiation treatment of bones of chicken, pork, beef, lamb, fish and mollusk shells was described. Induced radicals in irradiated samples gave distinguishable EPR patterns for differentiation from the unirradiated samples. The EPR signals were found to be relatively stable in mammalian bones and mollusk shells; but significant loss was observed in fish samples. Dose-response relationships of the samples were found to be linear at 0-5 kGy range (r(2) > 0.95). Using calibration curve method, the irradiation status of all the 64 blind samples (14 unirradiated and 50 irradiated) was correctly identified. The estimation of irradiation doses was satisfactory with mean values ranging from 86 to 116% of those of the nominal values, and precision (%RSD) ranged from 15 to 29%. The validated analytical procedure was applied in the surveillance monitoring of about 400 food samples during the period of 2001-2004.