ECONOMICS OF FOOD IRRADIATION

The number of products being radiation processed worldwide is constant ly increasing and today includes such diverse items as medical disposa bles, fruits and vegetables, spices, meats, seafoods and waste product s. This range of products to be processed has resulted in a wide range of irradiator designs and capital and operating cost requirements. Th is paper discusses the economics of low dose food irradiation applicat ions and the effects of various parameters on unit processing costs. I t provides a model for calculating specific unit processing costs by c orrelating known capital costs with annual operating costs and annual throughputs. It is intended to provide the reader with a general knowl edge of how unit processing costs are derived.