Studies on the Radicidation of Natural Food Colorants: Effects of Irradiation with .GAMMA.-Ray and Electron Beam on Functional Properties of Beet Red Colorant.

For the practical use of radicidation, we studied on the effects of γ-ray and electron beam on functional properties of beet red colorant, natural colors with low heat stability and high possibility of microbe contamination.Neither γ-ray or electron beam had any significant influence on color contents and color tone of red beet products at less than 10 kGy of irradiation for the practical use. Influence of moisture content at level of less than 20% in powdered product was not observed.The results suggest that both γ-ray and electron beam irradiation is significantly effective in decontamination of powdered beet red products.