Electron beam irradiation has been proven effective in killing the COVID-19 virus on cold-chain food packaging, the Daily Sunshine reported, citing information released at a conference Monday.
The project has also completed development on the country’s first demonstration plant with devices capable of disinfecting contaminated cold-chain food packaging via electron beams.
The project, which was approved by a panel composed of seven members from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was jointly conducted by a group of various organizations.
Since June last year, there have been many reported cases in China where, when samples were taken from the packaging of imported frozen food, they tested positive for the coronavirus.
Against this backdrop, the project was launched Oct. 30 last year.
The research team of the project officially conducted the experiment Jan. 10.
As of March 10, the experiment results showed that electron beam irradiation in absorbed doses of 5 to 10KGy can completely kill the living virus on the surface of filter paper.
The project was stated to be a potential new solution for addressing the problem of contaminated cold-chain food packaging during a review session held Monday.
According to Zhang Zimin, an engineer, the device adopts a low-energy self-shielding electron curtain accelerator with low electron beam energy. Its penetration ability is only about 0.3 mm for paper products.
The device is mainly for the disinfection of cold-chain food packaging and is not strong enough to penetrate cold-chain food packaging. Therefore, it will not affect the food inside, nor will it affect the environment at the equipment operation site.
Cold-chain food can be disinfected while moving on conveyer belts, enabling the device’s handling capability to reach 40,000 boxes per day.