ALTERATION OF APPARENT VISCOSITY OF IRRADIATED PEPPER - A TOOL FOR SEMIQUANTITATIVE ESTIMATION OF IRRADIATION DOSE

The feasibility of using apparent viscosity (eta(a)) as a method for d etecting the occurrence of previous irradiation of pepper was studied. Apparent viscosity of heat-treated suspensions of white and black pep per, nonirradiated or irradiated with different doses of ionising radi ation (gamma), was measured under different ''shear rates''. Results o f previous research were therefore expanded and their usefulness exami ned; low shear rate conditions were found to be preferable for the det ection and semi-quantitative evaluation of irradiation doses. The expe rimental methodology for semi-quantitative estimation was developed an d its scope and limitations are presented.