Abstract
We experimentally assessed the efficacy of electron beam irradiation to ensure the safety and quality of ready-to-eat spinach leaves using a 2-MeV Van de Graff accelerator. Spinach leaves (approximately 8 g) inside petri dishes were irradiated up to 1 kGy and stored at 4 degrees C for 15 d. Nonirradiated samples served as controls. Color, texture, vitamin C, total carotenoids, and chlorophyll content were measured using standard methods. Sensory analysis was performed by 15 untrained panelists using a 9-point hedonic scale. Color of control and irradiated samples showed slight variation throughout storage. Firmness of all samples changed significantly (P < 0.05) by half the storage time; however, exposure to radiation did not cause significant differences by the end of shelf life. Irradiation did not affect the chlorophyll and total carotenoid content, though it produced samples with significantly lower (P < 0.05) vitamin C content. For all treatments, chlorophyll content decreased by day 15 while total carotenoids remained constant. Although, by the end of refrigerated storage, all the irradiated samples received slightly lower odor scores, sensory analysis revealed that irradiation had little or no effect on the overall quality of spinach leaves. We also simulated the dose distribution within a bag of spinach leaves irradiated using a 10-MeV linear accelerator (0.3 to 1 kGy) to quantify the problem of nonuniform dose absorbed at different parts of the bag and predict death of a pathogen such as Escherichia coli O157:H7. The simulation results confirmed that it is feasible to irradiate baby spinach leaves (up to 1 kGy) to eliminate E. coli 0157:H7 while maintaining the overall quality of the produce.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Spinach leaf color varied slightly during storage in control and irradiated samples.
- Taxon
- spinach
Spinacia oleraceat0 - Outcome
- Colore0
- Direction
- slight variatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Color of control and irradiated samples showed slight variation throughout storage.”
t0“spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Spinach firmness changed significantly by mid storage.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Outcome
- Firmnesse0
- Direction
- changede0
- Qualifier
- by half the storage timee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Firmness of all samples changed significantly (P < 0.05) by half the storage time”
t0“spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Irradiation did not significantly change spinach firmness at shelf life end.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Treatment
- exposure to radiatione0
- Outcome
- significant differencese0
- Direction
- no_changeinferrede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“exposure to radiation did not cause significant differences by the end of shelf life.”
t0“spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Irradiation did not affect spinach chlorophyll and carotenoid content.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Treatment
- Irradiatione0
- Outcome
- chlorophyll and total carotenoid contente0
- Direction
- no_changeinferrede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Irradiation did not affect the chlorophyll and total carotenoid content”
t0“spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Irradiation lowered spinach vitamin C content significantly.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Treatment
- Irradiatione0
- Outcome
- vitamin C contente0
- Direction
- lowere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Irradiation did not affect the chlorophyll and total carotenoid content, though it produced samples with significantly lower (P < 0.05) vitamin C content.”
t0“spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Chlorophyll content decreased by day 15 for all treatments.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Outcome
- chlorophyll contente0
- Direction
- decreasede0
- Qualifier
- by day 15e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“For all treatments, chlorophyll content decreased by day 15”
t0“spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Carotenoid content remained constant through day 15.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Outcome
- total carotenoidse0
- Direction
- remained constante0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“total carotenoids remained constant.”
t0“spinach”
The same questions in other papers
radiation · quality: phytochemicals · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Positive and negative results
2 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- positive
- negative
- negative
radiation · physiology: pigments · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Results agree
3 papers in the same direction as this paper
- negative
- negative
- negative
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.