1. Context

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the dangers associated with food, sometimes rightly so, sometimes wrongly. It's a fact that millions of people around the world suffer from food poisoning of all kinds every year. As a result, industry and health authorities are constantly looking for new techniques to improve the hygienic quality of food.

• Ionizing food is a "new" process designed to sanitize and/or extend the shelf life of foodstuffs. The effects of ionizing radiation have been known practically since their discovery, around 1900. However, toxicological research was only possible from the 1960s onwards, when irradiators...