Identification of gamma-irradiated foodstuffs by chemiluminescence measurements in Taiwan

Abstract In order to establish chemiluminescence (CL) measurements as an identification method for γ-irradiated foodstuffs in Taiwan, ten agricultural products including wheat flour, rice, ginger, potatoes, garlic, onions, red beans, mung beans, soy beans, xanthoxylon seeds and Japanese star anises have been tested to compare CL intensities between untreated samples and samples subject to a 10 kGy γ-irradiation dose. Amongst them, wheat flour is the most eligible product to be identified by CL measurements. The CL intensities of un-irradiated and irradiated flour have shown large differences associated with a significant dose-effect relationship. Effects of three different protein contents of flour, unsieved and sieved (100–200 mesh), the reproducibility and the storage experiment on CL intensities at various doses were investigated in this study. In addition, the white bulb part of onions has shown some CL in irradiated samples. The CL data obtained from the other eight agricultural products have shown large fluctuations and cannot be used to differentiate between irradiated and un-irradiated samples.