NUKLEONIKA 2008, 53(Suppl. 2):s77-s79

 


RECENT STUDIES OF IRRADIATED MANGOES IN BRAZIL: A TREND TOWARDS COMMERCIAL APPROACH



Susy F. Sabato1, Josenilda M. Silva2, Juliana N. Cruz1, Paula O. Broisler1,
Paulo R. Rela1, Stephane Salmieri3, Monique Lacroix3

1 Radiation Technology Center, IPEN-CNEN/SP,
A. Lineu Prestes, 2242, 05508-000, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
2 Centro Regional de Ciencias Nucleares,
Av. Prof. Luiz Freire, 200, Cid. Universitaria, Recife, PE, Brazil
3 INRS – Institute Armand Frappier, Canadian Irradiation Center,
531 des Prairies, Ville de Laval, Qc, Canada, H7V IB7

Mango is an important commodity to our country as Brazil is a great producer and exporter of tropical fruits. Nowadays, Mexico and India are the main exporters of mango in the world and Brazil occupies the third position in this ranking. As these countries have adopted gamma radiation as a phytosanitary treatment and signed a bilateral agreement with the United States for exporting mango to this country, Brazil has to be up-to-dated with this trend. The Institute of Nuclear and Energy Researches together with field producers in the northeastern region and partners like the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Canadian Irradiation Center and Empresa Brasileira de Agropecuária joined to demonstrate this technology, its application and its commercial feasibility. The whole project was structured in two parts that involved around 1300 mangoes. The first step consisted mainly in studying the quality of irradiated mangoes within our territory, using a multipurpose semi-commercial cobalt facility, and comparing two harvesting points of the fruits. The second one was an international consignment of irradiated fruits from Brazil to Canada, where the control sample consisted of fruits treated with a hot water dip. The financial part of the feasibility study covers the scope of the investment, including the net working capital and production costs. In a summarized way to express, the results from physicochemical analysis and sensory evaluation were favorable, indicating that gamma radiation is a potential quarantine treatment.

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