Evaluation of Several Dosimeters for Identification of Irradiated Foods Using a 5 MeV Electron Beam

Electron-beam irradiation facilities are commercially utilized for food irradiation. This study investigates whether dosimeters used to detect gamma-rays can also be used to accurately detect electron-beam irradiation. The irradiation souses for gamma-ray at the Takasaki Institute were used throughout this study. Four kinds of dosimeters, RadiaChromic (RC), GammaChromic (GC), Amber3042 (AM), Radix (RX), and alanine (AL) were irradiated at doses from 0.1 to 60 kGy using a 5 MeV electron-beam (EB) at the Japan Irradiation Service Co. Ltd. (Japan). AL was submitted to the National Physics Laboratory in order to evaluate the doses that AL were absorbed. At low-level dose range, all dosimeters indicated correct values. This means those dosimeters were usable to accurately detect electron beam irradiation. But at higher range they all required correction due to either temperature effects or varying sensitivity to electron-beam exposure. Dose–depth profiles were obtained using ham and cheese samples, in order to check penetration of EB by the calibrated machine.