Study of effective factors in detection of irradiated food using thermoluminescence based on the models of reference minerals

Abstract In the thermoluminescence (TL) detection method for irradiated foods, accurate standards have been developed for detecting irradiated foods. The standard method describes that emission maximum temperature ( T1 i ) and TL ratio for non-heated or non-mixed sample can be in the range of 150–250 °C and more than 0.1, respectively, when it was irradiated food. But when irradiated food is heated up to 200 °C, or mixed up with non-irradiated stuffs, T1 i and TL ratio would not drop in the range. Here we examined the effects of the two processes, heating and mixing with non-irradiated food, on T1 i and G1/G1k ratio (ratio of G1 and average G1 for 1-kGy-irradiated JF2, this value is modeled after TL ratio) using a model consisting of irradiated and non-irradiated geochemical standards of feldspar (JF1, JF2, PF, etc.). T1 i temperatures for irradiated JF1, JF2, and PF ranged from 163 to 175 °C, while those for the non-irradiated JF2 ranged from 253 to 263 °C. T1 i temperatures for 5-kGy-irradiated and preheated JF2 for 10 s, 20 s, and 30 s at 180 °C were 215, 225, and 231 °C, respectively. When JF2 was irradiated from 100 Gy to 5 kGy, the T1 i was almost constant at any doses. G1/G1k ratios at 100, 200, and 500 Gy were 0.15, 0.23, and 0.60, respectively. G1/G1k ratio was proportional to the given dose at the integration temperature ranges. The TS sample, which originated from farm soil in Tanegashima Island, gave the same results as JF2. T1 i s for 5-kGy-irradiated and preheated JF2 for 20 s at 150, 180, and 200 °C were 197, 225, and 246 °C, respectively. Longer and higher preheating resulted in higher T1 i. Longer and higher preheating extremely reduced the G1/G1k ratio, and in some cases the ratio was less than 0.1. This means TL ratio is useless in determination of the standard for irradiated food. Peak temperatures for JF2 in mixture of 5-kGy-irradiated to non-irradiated (1.25–5%) were 261–263 °C (non-irradiated portion, T1 n ) and 177–180 °C (irradiated portion T1 i ). The peak positions are almost the same as those of original components and would not be affected by the mixing ratio. But TL ratio could not be used to determine irradiated food because mixing would reduce it remarkably. Some of the glow curves were simulated by a computer program. In conclusion, T1 i/n is a key factor in an irradiated food determination practice for sample containing feldspar, rather than TL ratio.