title: Cyanocobalamin solutions as potential dosimeters in low-dose food irradiations.
abstract: Potential of aqueous solutions of cyanocobalamin in gamma radiation dosimetry was investigated. The solutions are inexpensive, nontoxic and easy-to-prepare dosimeters, which could be useful for measuring gamma radiation doses in various applications, such as quarantine treatment of fruit or insect disinfestation of grains and pulses. The optical absorbance of cyanocobalamin solutions of the optimal concentration 0.08 mM decreases with increasing radiation dose. The reproducible dependence of the absorbance decrease on the dose can be described with a polynomial. Pre- and post-irradiation stability of the solution absorbance, as well as effects of the irradiation temperature and dose rate, were studied. The response is not significantly affected by storage of the irradiated dosimeters under ambient conditions for 20 days. The performance characteristics of this chemical dosimetry system suggest that it can be useful to measure doses in irradiations of food.
authors: Food Technology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Trombay, Mumbai 400085, India.
authors: Velayudhan
authors: V
authors: Prakasan
authors: Food Technology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Trombay, Mumbai 400085, India. Electronic address: bhasbarc@gmail.com.
authors: Bhaskar
authors: B
authors: Sanyal
authors: Food Technology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Trombay, Mumbai 400085, India.
authors: Surinder
authors: S
authors: Pritamdas Chawla
authors: Food Technology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Trombay, Mumbai 400085, India.
authors: Ramesh
authors: R
authors: Chander
authors: Food Technology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Trombay, Mumbai 400085, India.
authors: Arun
authors: A
authors: Sharma
mesh_terms: D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005514:Food Irradiation / Q000379:methods; D005720:Gamma Rays; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012996:Solutions; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D014805:Vitamin B 12 / Q000528:radiation effects*
chemical_list: D003037:Cobalt Radioisotopes; D012996:Solutions; D014805:Vitamin B 12
keywords: Chemical dosimetry; Cyanocobalamin; Food irradiation