Food irradiation is a process that kills harmful microorganisms. It can make food stay fresh longer and be safer to eat. Let's consider fresh fruit as an example of how irradiation can make food stay fresh. The problem with fresh fruits is that they provide the kind of food that bacteria, yeast, and mold spores grow on very rapidly. Even though bacteria, yeast, and mold spores are so tiny that it takes a microscope to see them, you can see their effects on fruit even a day or so after harvest.
Strawberries are a good example of a fruit that begins to go bad soon after harvesting.
Irradiation is a very simple process that will kill the microorganisms on the surface of fruits. It takes only a few minutes. An entire truckload of strawberries can be treated in 20 minutes. As you can see in Figure 1, irradiation makes a big difference in the quality of strawberries. Most people think the treated ones look best.