Effect of absorbed dose and storage length on electron paramagnetic resonance （EPR） signal strength in irradiated alfalfa seeds

1 Introduction Human salmonellosis associated with the con- sumption of alfalfa seed sprouts has been documented in several countries and people have applied several techniques to kill microorganisms in the alfalfa seeds[1]. Gamma irradiation can effectively kill the microorganisms in the seeds over a certain range of absorbed dose[2]. As a prerequisite, a suitable detection method for distinguishing whether or not a kind of food has been irradiated lies not only in whether some differences be…

Effect of absorbed dose and storage length on electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal strength in irradiated alfalfa seeds

A kind of alfalfa seeds was irradiated by 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 kGy at a dose rate of 6.288 kGy. h-1 in a self-shielded irradiator of 137Cs gamma rays. The EPR spectra, which were measured subsequently between 0.3401and 0.3501 T, showed that there was a direct proportional relationship between the EPR signal strength of free radicals produced by gamma irradiation in the alfalfa seeds and absorbed dose. The first derivative EPR spectra of the alfalfa seeds were very clear and easy to identify. However, the EPR signal strength of the peak-to-peak amplitude decreased rapidly and most of them decayed beyond 50% within 3 days after the seeds were irradiated. It tended to stabilize after half a month since the seeds were irradiated. The differences of the EPR signal strength between the irradiated and unirradiated alfalfa seeds still remained. All seeds were stored at ambient temperature for more than 3months. Therefore, using EPR spectrometry technique to measure free radicals in alfalfa seeds as a means to determine whether the seeds have been irradiated or not is feasible, relatively fast and simple.