Simulation of gamma-ray irradiation of lettuce leaves in a ¹³⁷Cs irradiator using MCNP

Ionizing radiation effectively reduces the number of common microbial pathogens in fresh produce. However, the efficacy of the process for pathogens internalized into produce tissue is unknown. The objective of this study was to understand gamma irradiation of lettuce leaf structure exposed in a ¹³⁷Cs irradiator using MCNP. The simulated ¹³⁷Cs irradiator is a self-shielded device, and its geometry and sources are described in the MCNP input file. When the irradiation chamber is filled with water, lower doses are found at the center of the irradiation volume and the dose uniformity ratio (maximum dose/minimum dose) is 1.76. For randomly oriented rectangular lettuce leaf segments in the irradiation chamber, the dose uniformity ratio is 1.25. It shows that dose uniformity in the Cs irradiator is strongly dependent of its filling density. To understand dose distribution inside the leaf, we divided a lettuce leaf into a low density (flat) region (0.72 g/cm³) and high density (rib) region (0.86 g/cm³). Calculated doses to the rib are 61% higher than doses to the flat region of the leaf. This indicates that microorganisms internalized in the rib can be inactivated more easily than organisms on the surface. This study shows that irradiation can effectively reduce viable microorganism internalized in lettuce. (author)