A first attempt of identifying irradiated foods via the detection of DNA damages with GC-MS

For the identification of irradiated foods it is of greatest importance to find a unique radiolytic product that is detectable with normal analysis equipment. This requirement is met by DNA, located in nearly all cells of meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, etc. Of disadvantage is the low DNA content in the cells (about 0.2 to 1%). The present paper considers the question whether damages in the base molety are suitable for identifying irradiated foods by use of GC/MS. To examine the practical applicability of identifying irradiated food via the detection of DNA damages standards (uracil, thymine, cytosine, adenine, guanine) poultry meat and herring sperm, were irradiated with a dose of 7 KGy. The detection of radiation-induced based lesions in nucleic acid is a promising method for the identification of irradiated food in the future. This first attempt shows some differences between irradiated and control samples. But up to now, it is necessary to have a control sample for identification of the irradiated sample. The method is currently tested only on meat, but there are many possibilities for optimization to extend the detection to other radiation-induced base derivatives or other foods to gain a broader applicability of this method. (8 figs, 2 tabs, 21 refs)