State and prospects of food irradiation in tunisia

Tunisia is a country with a high vocational agricultural orientation. It continues to promote production and gives incentives to construct storage and processing installations in order to meet the food demand of the growing population. This policy is part of a global development program aimed at reaching a food security system. This system is based not only on increasing production but also on the improvement of the storage and processing capacities existing in the country, whether modern or traditional, taking in consideration the food commodities and the region concerned. Food preservation by irradiation is an alternative to improve and reinforce our food security system, since it is considered as a way to protect commodities from spoilages and also to promote shelf life and improve hygienic qualities. The products which are concerned by decreasing losses are mainly potatoes, onions garlic, dates, nuts, etc. Hygiene improvement will concern poultry products for our growing tourist business. And, shelf extension concerns our exports of sea product to the european community. Within this scope the government of tunisia has submitted a proposal to install a pilot unit to carry out preliminary work toward the introduction of an industrial unit. The international atomic energy agency has accepted the proposal and is looking for funds for the implementation. The government has recently pledged 60.000 tunisian dinars to do the required engineering studies of the unit. 4 tabs