Twenty-six years experience of commercialization on potato irradiation at Shihoro, Japan

The township of Shihoro is Japan's biggest and most advanced dairy and fiel d farming district which has been producing potatoes as a key crop. The pot ato irradiation plant was built at Shihoro in 1973 with a potato processing complex and has been shipping some 15,000 tons of sprout-inhibited potatoe s a year during the sprouting season. From a technical viewpoint, the radia tion efficiency of the Shihoro irradiator is lower than that of the usual i rradiation facility using a carton box. The success of the Shihoro irradiat or is shown in that radiation processing has been effectively included into one of the storage systems of a huge potato distribution facility. The spr out-inhibited potatoes as such are no guarantee of better business derived from potatoes, but producers see the merit of this process, because it make s possible year-round plant operations and planned shipments, keeps employe es in year-round service and prevents rural depopulation, with an increase in the volume of business by expanding the area under crop. Recently in Jap an, many companies have interests in commercial irradiation of spices, medi cal herbs and farm animal feeds before application to common foods. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.