Food irradiation can reduce the number of food-borne pathogens and spoilage organisms. This technology is allowed in the US for several food commodities. For example, spinach and lettuce can be irradiated up to 4 kGy to control food-borne pathogens and extend shelf life. However, current food packaging of these types of fresh produce are not approved for irradiation. Safety evaluation of the food packaging when exposed to radiation treatment is needed. Polymer additives in the food packaging may react when irradiated to produce radiolysis products. We investigated the effect of gamma irradiation on a nucleating agent, aluminum, hydroxybis[2,4,8,10-tetrakis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-6-hydroxy-12H-dibenzo [d,g][1,3,2]dioxaphosphocin 6-oxidato]- (CAS Reg. No. 151841-65-5), when irradiated in a polypropylene resin at doses up to 20 kGy. Accelerated solvent extraction was used to extract the polymer additive from the resin. The extracts were analyzed by LC-MS/MS and LC-PDA. Solid-state NMR of the irradiated resin was also used to determine structural changes. We did not observe significant changes between the non-irradiated and irradiated resin. Hence, this nucleating agent can potentially be used in irradiated food packaging.

Chemical methods to determine effect of gamma irradiation on a nucleating agent at irradiation doses applicable for fresh produce

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