# Presentation: 937155

## Technology Supplier Perspective

**Radiation Processing of Horticultural Products**
**Joseph Borsa, Ph.D.**
**MDS Nordion**
**Presented at USDA Irradiation Workshop for Horticulturalists**
**Sacramento, California**
**November 30, 2004**

## In this presentation......

**A little bit about MDS Nordion....who we are **
**Radiation processing of horticultural products**
**What’s driving it forward**
**Some key technical considerations**
**Focus on some of our products suitable for this purpose**
**Economic basics of irradiation / overview**
**Barriers / impediments to implementation**
**MDSN initiatives to help overcome them**
**This will be a broadbrush picture.....presenting irradiation in the context of an enabling technology, that is an integral part of the “agricultural export infrastructure”**

## MDS Nordion....

**...****..the premier technology supplier serving the radiation processing industry**

## MDS Nordion....A little closer look

**Technology company based on nuclear science **
**“*****Science Advancing Health*****” tagline says it all**
**Three main areas of business**
**Industrial irradiation**
**Therapy systems**
**Radiopharmaceuticals**
**Over 40 years in business**
**Currently about 1000 employees worldwide**
**Our core products: hardware / know-how / supplies / service**
**Hundreds of installed cobalt-based therapy systems around world**
**Major supplier of radiopharmaceuticals for nuclear medicine applications **
**Over 120 cobalt-60 powered industrial irradiation facilities in service around the world**

## Our interest in food irradiation

**Goes back for decades**
**National and international scenes**
**Supported and promoted it in a variety of ways**
**“****Missionary” type of education activities promoting the technology**
**Prepare and file petitions for regulatory clearance**
**Support R&D**
**Developed state-of-the-art technology systems to meet the stringent processing demands for treating food**
**Technology supplier to the first irradiator in the USA dedicated to food irradiation (former Vindicator)**

## Radiation processing of horticultural products......

## Why irradiate horticultural products?

**Disinfestation for **_**quarantine security purposes**_
**This is the main driver today**** **
_**Sprout inhibition**_
**Various tubers /potatoes/onions/garlic/yams/?**
**A secondary driver currently / significant need in this area**** **
**Enhancement of **_**food safety**_** and **_**extension of shelf-life**_
**Fruits and vegetables linked to outbreaks of food-borne illness**
**Growing interest in using irradiation to deal with this problem**
**It’s effective and it leaves the products raw and fresh**
**Not yet a major driver, but this could change**
**Dose for this purpose is roughly 10-fold higher than for the other two applications**

## Radiation disinfestation “adds value” 

**It helps convert agricultural surpluses into exportable products that can be sold in international markets, providing an economic boost for farming communities and agricultural economies**
**This represents major “added value”**

## Why radiation disinfestation? 

**Fast and convenient**
**Treatment is fast / product is ready to use immediately after treatment**
**No ‘aeration’ holding time required**
**Not affected by temperature or humidity**
**No water dipping which can spread microbial contamination**
**Can be done with product already packed in shipping cases**
**No hazardous chemicals**
**Effective**** **
**For a variety of pests **
**For a variety of product types**
**Closest we’re likely to get to a “universal” disinfestation technology**
**Ideal disinfestation technology for central system integrated into the agricultural export infrastructure**
**Locate at point of egress from a production region**

## Some key technical considerations.....

## Source option considerations 

**Choice of photons (gamma rays, x-rays) or particulate ****radiation (electrons)**** **
**Basically “radiation is radiation” in terms of effects.They all ****do the job, once the dose is delivered**** **
**Each has its advantages and limitations**** **
**They have different penetration characteristics**
**Photons allow you to process even large objects**
**Individual fruits or vegetables**
**Packages and stacks of packages****	****	****	**

## Agricultural products come in different sizes and shapes....

**All types need to be treated**
**The radiation must reach all parts of all products**
**Photons can treat all sizes of individual products, i.e. anything from cherries to watermelons**** **
**	****To illustrate.......**

## Comparison of Dose Distributions

- Thickness =  3.7  inches

- 10 Mev electrons 1 sided

- 10 Mev electrons 2 sided

- Photons

- Pretend this is a papaya or mango or grapefruit or ?

## More dose distribution comparisons

- Electrons1 sided

- Electrons2 sided

- Photons

- Item for irradiation~ 1.5 inches thick

## ‘Take home lesson’ from the dose distribution examples

**Photons (gamma rays or x-rays) allow delivery of a uniform dose to a variety of sizes and shapes of food items **
**Electrons can be used to treat thin layers of product, but they cannot be used on objects greater than about 3 inches in thickness**
**Although the pictures were for meat products of various sorts, the dose distributions for treatment of different sized fruits would be similar to those seen with the meat products**

## In product stacks dose and dose uniformity is key

**All irradiators actually deliver a **_**range of doses**_** to any product stack**
**D****min**** is the minimum dose within a product stack**
**D****max**** is the maximum dose within a product stack****The ratio of D****max****:D****min**** is the ‘Dose Uniformity Ratio’ (DUR)**** **
**DUR is a function of **
**Product stack size**
**Density**
**Type of radiation**
_**Irradiator design details**_**Once you’ve selected a system design, you have to live with it for the life of the facility**

## For successful processing....

**D****min**** must be sufficient to kill the pest of concern**
**This is specified by USDA-APHIS protocols **
**D****max**** must be less than D****tolerance**** (the tolerance dose for the fruit) to avoid damage to fruit or vegetable quality**
**The tolerance dose D****tolerance**** must be determined for each fruit or vegetable**
**When D****max****=D****tolerance****, this establishes the maximum DUR that can be tolerated by a particular product**
**Facility and protocol design must ensure that DUR (actual) < DUR (tolerated)**
**For some fruits DUR (tolerated) is quite large (3 or more)**
**For others it can be quite small (say 1.5:1)**

## Gamma and X-rays are both useful

**Both can do the job**** **
**Technically the two are the same**
**Effects of both on pests and product are identical**
**Both have excellent penetration characteristics**** **** **
**Gamma ray systems are much simpler **
**Decay is continuous**** **
**Gamma sources generally cost less for the power range required for disinfestation / lower capital cost**

## Gamma Processing Characteristics

## The question of community acceptance of gamma systems...

## Community acceptability of gamma facilities

**Approximately 160 gamma-based teletherapy machines in hospitals all across America**
**Hundreds of research irradiators in labs across the country**
**Over 50 full scale production irradiators across the land**
**including some new ones**
**This attests to the general acceptance of gamma systems by society**

## Slide 22

## Economic basics of gamma irradiators.......

## Economics: capital cost estimate

## Economics: unit processing cost

## Unit processing cost vs annual throughput

## Economics summary

**Irradiation is a capital intensive technology**
**Typical systems run in the several million dollar range for capital cost**
**Economics are favored by high throughputs**
**Fixed costs are a major component of annual operating cost**
**Unit processing costs are strongly dependent on volume **
**At sufficiently high throughput, they can be in the penny or two per pound range, or even less**
**Idle capacity is expensive**
**Need to match system capacity to throughput needs**
**Gamma allows this easily**
**Need to have ability to grow**
**Gamma allows this easily**

## MDS Nordion irradiators suitable for horticultural products........

## Key requirements in selecting an irradiation system......

**MUST be able to process pallet loads**
**We have non-pallet systems, but I will not talk about them here**
**Product quality must not be compromised**
**DUR capability must be low enough that the resulting D****max**** does not exceed the tolerance dose for the product**
**Tolerable DUR is product-specific **
**Economics**
**Low processing cost per lb / high throughput**
**Capital cost must be affordable**

## MDS Nordion offers a choice....

**For those products that can tolerate a fairly high DUR **
_**Parallel row pallet irradiator**_** optimized to give the lowest possible processing cost / highest capacity and most favorable processing economics**
**For those products that are more sensitive and require a tighter DUR **
**A new system, the **_**Quadura**_**, optimized to give the lowest possible DUR and the greatest flexibility, with still excellent processing economics**

## Parallel row pallet irradiator

-  **~500 million pounds ****per year at 0.15 kGy**** **
**16 pallets in chamber**** **
**Nominal processing ****cost < 0.5 cent a pound**** **
**DUR 2.50:1 at ****0.40 g per cm3**** **
**Cobalt use: > 50 pounds****product processed per ****penny worth of cobalt ****consumed**** **

## Quadura .....pallet irradiator

## Slide 33

## Slide 34

## Quadura pallet irradiator

**DUR < 1.5:1 for densities up to 0.6 g per cm3**** **
**Capacity up to ~ 300 million pounds per year at 0.15 kGy**** **
**Each pallet independently processed**
**Maximum flexibility****	****	**
**Nominal processing cost < 1 cent a pound**** **
**Cobalt use:  ~20 lbs of product processed for 1 cent worth of cobalt consumed ( at maximum capacity)**

## So what will it take to move forward?

## Barriers to implementation of irradiation for disinfestation........

**And some initiatives MDS Nordion as a supplier to this industry is undertaking to help overcome them**

## Barriers to implementation

**Regulatory restrictions**
**USDA-APHIS umbrella regulation in place, but detailed working agreements still needed before products can flow**
**High capital cost poses significant entry barrier**
**Some budding enterprises find it difficult to raise the startup capital**
**Logistical difficulties in providing service for distributed farming areas**
**Transportation required prior to irradiation**
**Must be able to process product after it has been packaged for transportation **
**Processing capacity not available**
**New capacity needs to be built where needed**

## Problem: High capital cost poses significant entry barrier 

**Our initiative......**
**Convert part of the upfront capital cost of the irradiator into a processing charge based on the revenue stream generated by operation of the facility**
**This lowers the financial barrier for entry**
**It also shares the risk between the principal stakeholders**

## Problem: Logistical difficulties relating to transport to irradiation facility

**Our response.....**
**We now offer a choice of two high performance pallet irradiation systems to meet the needs of the horticultural industry. This permits seamless integration of the irradiation facility into the normal transportation and distribution system used to get the product to market**

## Problem: Lack of processing capacity where needed

**Our answer....**
**We’ll work with suitable counterparts from the horticultural industry to help make it happen**

## Summary and Conclusion

**Radiation disinfestation has an important role to play as an integral part of the ‘agricultural export infrastructure’ serving a particular farming region**
**Irradiation systems are industrial facilities requiring multi-million dollar investments**
**Unit processing costs of less than a penny a pound are achievable at suitably high annual throughputs**
**Radiation disinfestation represents a ‘value added’ process. The magnitude of this added value can be very significant**
** ****State-of-the-art irradiators can process product on pallets, making it easy to integrate irradiation into the normal product transport and distribution system**

## Thank you !

## Nominal End / Spare slides

## Some key considerations for gamma

**Choice is between gamma, e-beam and x-rays**
**Biological effects of gamma, e-beam and x-ray are the same**
**Photons (gamma rays, x-rays) offer major advantage over electrons (e-beam) in terms of penetration**
**Can process big boxes of stuff, even pallet loads**
**Of the photon options, gamma rays offer advantages over x-rays **

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_**North America Irradiator Sites**_

## PALLET IRRADIATOR FOR LOW DUR APLICATIONS