Recent advances and development in application of ionization process to fish: food safety

Fish preservation and conditioning technology exploiting ionization rays is surely a useful tool because it allows: the maintenance, as long as possible, of sensorial and organoleptic characteristics of fish which are of primary importance in evaluating fish quality; reducing or wipe out the growing of microbial species potentially toxic for humans; limiting the presence of putrefactive micro-organisms; devitalising parasites possibly present in muscles or in gut of fish, shellfish and mollusc. Although irradiation technique is essentially a cold technology (it does not implies a relevant temperature increase of the food product) it has great influence in inducing structural and nutritional modifications of fish (very reactive radical species and transformation of nutrients particularly referring to fats). It follows, that suitability and harmlessness of every irradiated food, as clearly indicated by European Community Directives (1999/2/CE e 1999/3/CE), can be evaluated considering four important criteria: absence of induced radioactivity in food; absence of pathogenic micro-organisms and/or their toxins as well as products of their metabolism; maintenance of a sufficient nutritive value; presence of chemical compounds originated by water radiolysis possessing toxic, mutagenic and neoplastic features. The goal of the present study deals with the analysis of recent advances in application of ionization process and their consequence on fish nutritional and organoleptic quality.