MIN-BEI-IRRADIATION-CENTER - FOOD-AND-AGRICULTURE-ORGANIZATION PROJECT EXPERIENCE, JIANOU, FUJIAN PROVINCE, CHINA

The Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO), a Unitede Nations Organiza tion, in an effort to increase food supplies by post harvest irradiati on treatment participated in the development of the Min Bei Irradiatio n Center(MBIC) Located in Fujian Province, China. FAO inconjunction wi th Shanghai Nuclear Energy Research and Design Institute(SNERDI) , MBI C staff, and the Ministry of Agriculture completed Project TCP CPR 676 3/8961 culminating in the recent comissioning of one of China's nesest irradiation facilities. From the feasibility phase initiated in 1986, through the construction period and the eventual commissioning in 199 1 FAO participated in the technical overview of the irradiation center . MBIC was developed both as a research and development center as well as a poduction irradiation facility for the primary purposes of reduc tion of post harvest food loss in Fujian Province. This retrospective review of the project provides a hindsight view for the development of MBIC.