title: Impact of electron beam irradiation on quality of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) oil.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sea buckthorn oil is a valuable product that can be incorporated into daily foodstuffs, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals. The effect of accelerated electron irradiation up to 8 kGy on quality characteristics of sea buckthorn oil was investigated in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Irradiation had no significant influence on phenolic content. Conversely, carotenoid content, antioxidant activity, and oxidative status suffered alterations as the irradiation dose increased. Although no colour changes were visible for oil irradiated up to 3 kGy, the total colour difference indicated clearly changes that involved a two-step pattern associated with slow degradation of oil colour up to 3 kGy, followed by a fast degradation up to 8 kGy. Some changes of the oil spectral features related to the frequency and intensity of some bands have been found after irradiation, indicating an alteration of the structural integrity induced by irradiation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present investigation may be a useful starting point for irradiation processing of food or non-food matrices containing sea buckthorn oil. Thus, sea buckthorn oil safety can be ensured with minimal undesirable changes in its quality by applying irradiation doses up to 3 kGy, which allow control of the microbial contamination depending on microorganism type and initial microbial load.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Electron Accelerators Laboratory, 409 Atomiştilor St, P.O. Box MG-36, 077125, Bucharest-Măgurele, Romania.
authors.forename: Monica R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Nemţanu
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Electron Accelerators Laboratory, 409 Atomiştilor St, P.O. Box MG-36, 077125, Bucharest-Măgurele, Romania.
authors.forename: Mirela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Braşoveanu
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000737:chemistry*; D005514:Food Irradiation / Q000379:methods*; D031281:Hippophae / Q000737:chemistry*; D010636:Phenols / Q000737:chemistry; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D010636:Phenols; D010938:Plant Oils; D002338:Carotenoids
keywords: FTIR; antioxidant activity; carotenoids; color; irradiation; oil