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ARTICLE |
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Background:
Oil seeds are among the major food commodities that can be affected by
microorganisms, which are produced by a particular type of mold.
Ionizing radiations are also used to reduce pathogen propagation when
trading these products.
Methods: To investigate the
effect of gamma irradiation and storage on quality of shelf-life of
sunflower seed, samples of the seeds obtained from the market have been
irradiated under 3, 6, and 9 kGy of gamma radiation and stored for 12
months.
Results: The results indicate
that, all used doses of gamma irradiation had no significant
(p<0.05) effect on moisture, ash and total sugar, while 6 kGy and 9
kGy had a significant (p<0.05) effect on protein, reducing sugar and
oil content of sunflower oil. Along with the increase in the dose of
irradiation, both bacterial and fungal count of the samples reduced to
the undetectable limit after irradiation with 3 and 9 kGy respectively.
Both total acidity and total volatile basic nitrogen increased
significantly (p<0.05) with increasing the dose of irradiation and
the storage time. Sensory evaluation showed that texture, flavour and
texture were not affected significantly (p<0.05) by irradiation,
while colour parameter was increased significantly (p<0.05) by
irradiation.
Conclusion: Gamma irradiation
could arrest microorganisms contamination of sunflower seeds, while
maintaining the quality, as judged from proximate constituents,
chemical properties and sensory evaluation.
