Page: Radiation Technology Centre

RTC mainly uses radiation processing in its research and service provision activities. Gamma radiation from a Cobalt-60 source is applied in a controlled system to achieve many technical aims. Current research and service provision activities being undertaken in the centre include:

1. Radiation Processing: The process of food irradiation ensures the destruction of bacteria, fungi, insects and other parasites that cause food spoilage and disease. Radiation treatment also delays germination/sprouting in some foods while delaying ripening and senescence in others. Research in this area currently focuses on perishable crops like pepper, tomatoes, plantains and other locally produced foods. Work is also on-going on decontamination of medicinal herbs in Ghana and the impact irradiation has on the phenolic content of these herbs. Radiation sterilization for medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries is another aspect of the work of the centre.

Advantages of gamma irradiation in the food industry

• Total penetration of final packaging
• Highly effective and efficient process
• “Cold process” – no temperature influence
• Time/ Dose is the only variable-easy validation and control
• No quarantine time
• Can be applied at various stages of manufacturing process

Unique Advantages of gamma sterilization

• Treated products can be used immediately without quarantine time
• Insignificant rise in product temperature during the process, thus preserving heat-sensitive plastics and other components
• High penetrability (hence packaged products can be processed)
• Very precise and reproducible treatment process
• Provides high sterility assurance levels of 10
• Shelf life of treated products is long and depends on integrity

2. Post-harvest management:

• The quality and safety assessment of vegetables grown around BNARI
• Insect quality control for powdered food products
• Exploiting the benefits of amaranth grain through appropriate postharvest storage techniques
• Extending the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by treating with natural fungicides

3. Food product development: 

Research in this area focuses on producing value-added products that use innovative techniques including irradiation. Recent work has centred around the nutrition/quality characteristics of consuming fortified soybean gari, identification and characterization of microorganisms associated with spontaneously fermented sobolo, solar drying of mangoes with edible coatings, toxicological safety and socioeconomic considerations of the usage of some selected edible insects in Ghana, development of value added tomato products from solar dried tomato and evaluation of drying as a method of preserving carrots and reducing postharvest losses.

4. General laboratory services: 

In addition to irradiation sterilization, RTC provides researchers, students and general customers with laboratory testing and technical support solutions at every stage of the sterilization design process, from product development through routine processing.