By: Rayyane Mazaya Syifa Insani – FT i3L

Seafood is composed of various types of marine animals which possess high nutritional value and have a considerable impact on the economic aspect. This type of food is deemed a healthy meal as long as it is still fresh and this freshness constitutes a crucial factor in defining the quality of seafood. As seafood is perishable foodstuff, assorted methods of seafood preservation have been discovered a long time ago and continuously updated until today. Traditional preservation like salt-curing has existed since ancient times, yet it is still done until now and constantly improved until all negative impacts can be addressed. However, most traditional methods are insufficient for maintaining quality in the long term and ensuring food safety. Current method such as ionizing radiation is found to be more useful in extending the shelf life of marine animals and microbial eradication, as well as for ensuring the safety aspect of food 

The objective of this article is to review several pieces of information and descriptions related to the development in seafood processing through food irradiation method. 

One of the advanced methods that is trusted to prolong the shelf life of seafood, maintain microbial activity, and improve quality is food irradiation. A way to keep food from getting spoiled can be done by controlling some aspects such as microbial deteriorative processes, enzymes, as well as chemically active molecules, and these all can be obtained by applying irradiation to the food. Theoretically, the commonly approved technology of food irradiation is gamma rays which are emitted from radioactive forms of Cobalt-60 and Cesium-137. The Joint Expert Committee on the Wholesome of Irradiated Food (JECFI) declared that irradiation of any food process must be conducted on an average dose of 10 kilograys (kGy) to avoid toxicological hazards. There are pros and cons related to the application of irradiation for food preservation. Nevertheless, if radiation energy is emitted at an approved level, it will only eliminate the unwanted living cells without transforming the food into radioactive. 

An example of a research report about food irradiation process to various species of seafood, with different dose levels of irradiation and storage analysis is presented in Table 1 below. All results indicated the significant prolongation of shelf life.