Photostimulated Luminescence-Thermoluminescence Application to Detection of Irradiated White Ginseng Powder

White ginseng powder, permitted to be irradiated in Korea for the purpose of microbial decontamination, was treated with electron beam at doses of 0~15 kGy for a detection trial whether it is irradiated or not by measuring photostimulated luminescence for whole samples first and then (TL) for the mineral adhering to the samples. PSL values were less than threshold value (700, T1) and were negative for nonirradiated samples but more than 5000 (T2) and were positive for irradiated ones. After PSL measurement mineral was separated from the whole samples using density separation. Mineral of nonirradiated samples was characterized by glow curves which have low intensity and were situated at the high temperature region (about 300 degrees) by the low level of natural radioactivity. Glow curves of minerals for all irradiated samples were observed at about 200 degrees. TL ratio by normalization was 0.01 for nonirradiated sample and more than 0.78 for irradiated samples, and it was possible to detect whether white ginseng powders were irradiated or not