Is it safe to sterilized pepper chicken claws with radioactive sources?

Original title: Is it safe to sterilized pepper chicken claws with radioactive sources?
recently, the report on "18 Russian cobalt-60 radioactive sources in Sichuan decommissioned" mentioned the use of radioactive sources to sterilized the chicken claws, causing widespread concern.
sources sterilized food? Will food be contaminated with radioactive material harmful to the human body during radiation sterilization? What application space does civil nuclear technology have in people's daily life? Science and Technology Daily reporter interviewed a number of experts from Sichuan Atomic Energy Research Institute and Sichuan Nuclear Technology Application Association.
china is the world's nuclear energy, nuclear technology utilization of large countries, the total size of the world's third. In the eyes of the general public, "nuclear technology" is still an unattainable and color-changing word. But in fact, radioactive sources can not only sterilise chicken claws, but also widely used in medical sterilization, pest control, agricultural breeding, preparation of new materials and other industries.
scene: can be about 10 tons of pepper chicken claw sterilization
5 morning, in Sichuan Atomic Energy Research Institute irradiation engineering center, the reporter interview coincided with the center to carry out pepper chicken claw disinfection and sterilization work. Reporters in the control room to see, boxes of pepper chicken claws are installed in the chain hanging in the irradiated box, such as scenic sightseeing cable car is generally slow, in turn into the irradiated room to receive cobalt 60 radiation release of gamma ray disinfection, the whole process is safe and orderly.
" has 24 seats in the irradiated room, which can be sterilized for about 10 tons of pepper chicken claws at the same time. Huang Cheng, head of the operation department of the irradiation engineering center responsible for the operation of the system, said that the cobalt-60 radioactive source is usually stored in a storage well at a depth of 7.5 meters in the engineering center, and when used, the radiation source is lifted by the lifting equipment, and the irradiation box will be sent to the irradiated room in turn according to the track of the suspension chain, and the radiation sterilization operation will be carried out, "the radiation source does not touch food at all in the whole process".
irradiated engineering center marketing minister Ye Jiawei told reporters, because of thorough sterilization, high efficiency, can achieve the characteristics of "cold processing" at room temperature, in the current 20 billion yuan or so in Sichuan and Chongqing bagged pepper chicken claw food industry, 70% of the products are sterilized by radiation exposure. "Because traditional high-temperature sterilization can damage the taste of chicken claws, adding too much preservatives is bad for your health." After the ordinary shelf life of only 3 days to 7 days of bagged chicken claws through irradiation processing, the shelf life can be extended to 6 months.
: Food in the process of irradiation processing will not be contaminated with radioactive materials, irradiated food is not radioactive
The high-energy rays produced by ionizing radiation such as electron beams process food, produce powerful physical and biological effects in the process of energy transfer and transfer, and achieve the goal of insecticidal, sterilization, inhibiting physiological processes, improving food hygiene quality, maintaining nutritional quality and flavor, and prolonging shelf life.
then, after irradiation sterilization, food will be contaminated with radioactive material?" Definitely not!" Chen Hao, director of the Sichuan Atomic Energy Research Institute, said that in the course of the operation, radioactive sources will never come into contact with food, there is no possibility of food contamination, irradiated food is not radioactive. Scientists from all over the world have carried out extensive and in-depth research on the safety of nuclear technology applied to food sterilization for more than 40 years, and after long-term animal and human testing, it has been proved that agricultural by-products and their processing products under a certain dose of radiation do not produce radioactivity, do not produce toxic substances, and have no effect on nutritional value.
he says irradiated food research has a long history, and in the 1940s, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed X-ray disinfection of hamburgers. At present, 42 countries in the world have approved more than 200 kinds of irradiated food, the total annual market sales have reached 300,000 tons. As early as 1984-1994, China approved 18 kinds of irradiated food hygiene standards, in 1996 promulgated the "Irradiated Food Hygiene Management Measures", in 1997 issued nuts and other six categories of irradiated food hygiene labels, in 2002 promulgated "Irradiated food common standards" and 16 irradiated food technology standards. By the end of 2015, the total amount of irradiated food had exceeded 200,000 tons.
Outlook: Food disinfection and sterilization in the civilian nuclear technology is only "paediatric"
nuclear technology, including power and non-power two categories, the former mainly refers to nuclear energy development, such as nuclear power plants, the latter includes agriculture, biology, materials and other fields of nuclear technology applications. Pepper chicken claw sterilization belongs to the latter, but it is only one of the "paediatrics". Nuclear technology is widely used in food disinfection and sterilization, industrial materials modified, agricultural radiation mutagenogenic breeding, import and export quarantine, medical health and many other fields.
For example, in the field of medical device disinfection, it can replace the traditional chemical fumigation sterilization, thorough sterilization, long preservation period, while no pollution, no residue; In the field of medicine, nuclear technology applications mainly include radioactive drugs and radiotherapy and diagnostic devices, currently 300 to 400 million people worldwide each year to receive the diagnosis and treatment of radioactive drugs, radioactive drugs annual output value of about $5 billion. Radiotherapy and diagnostic devices include accelerators, fault scanners (CT), nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NM), single photon emission computer fault scanners (SPECT), and positive electron fault scanners (PET). The world's electronic linear accelerators for radiotherapy are close to 10,000 units, creating an annual value of $18 billion.
And as China's forefront of the peaceful use of atomic energy research units - Sichuan Atomic Energy Research Institute is fruitful, it has cultivated a number of high-yielding, disease-resistant, widely adapted hybrid rice varieties, is currently in China's southern rice region and Southeast Asia, Africa and other countries and regions widely cultivated.
1, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress voted to pass the Nuclear Safety Law of the People's Republic of China. This law will play a major role in promoting the development of china's nuclear energy industry and safeguarding nuclear safety. "Nuclear technology is around, playing an important role in terms of food, clothing, living and environmental protection." Chen Hao said that at present, the Institute has also carried out radiation mutated selection of flowers, rape, corn, tobacco new varieties and the use of radiation modified technology to prepare new materials and other technologies. He also said that the U.S. civil nuclear technology industry has exceeded 600 billion U.S. dollars, while China only about 30 billion yuan, the future of Sichuan and even the country's civilian nuclear technology applications still have a lot of development potential and space. (Sheng Li)