Determination of hydrogen as a marker in irradiated eggshell

✍ Scribed by Hitchcock, Christopher H?S

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 60 KB
• Volume: 80
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5142
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0010(20000101)80:1<137::aid-jsfa501>3.0.co;2-w

✦ Synopsis

When irradiated calcium carbonate or irradiated eggshell from domesticated hens is dissolved in acid, characteristic traces of molecular hydrogen are released along with the carbon dioxide. The determination of this hydrogen from the shells of eggs offers a reliable, rapid and robust method for the detection of prior irradiation. Being based on an electronic sensor incorporated into a simple headspace analyser, it is particularly useful as a cheap on-site screening procedure. Analysis of eggshells irradiated at between 4 and 0.1 kGy gave stable signals between 100 and 6 mV over at least 25 weeks' storage at ambient temperatures.