Identifying irradiated oysters by luminescence techniques (TL & PSL)

This study shows an exhaustive comparison of different methods, based on luminescence techniques, to identify X-ray irradiated oysters at five different dose levels in the range 0.1–2 kGy and suggests a simple, fast and sequential routine analysis protocol. A total number of 50 oysters from North Sea, including 10 control samples, were analysed by using two photo-stimulated luminescence (PSL) methods (named A and B) and three thermoluminescence (TL) methods (named C, D and E), either on constituents or contaminating minerals from shells and intestines. Setting a lower threshold value T1 (1000 counts/60 s) all of control specimens gave negative screening results while photo counts from irradiated samples were found to be higher than upper threshold T2 (4000 counts/60 s), except at the lowest dose level 0.1 kGy for procedure A. All PSL calibrated analysis were successful and a sensitivity index was also determined to better classify obtained data according to the revised European Standard (EN 13751:2009). TL ratios, Glow 1 over second Glow 2, the latter after irradiating at 1 kGy and remeasuring the same minerals for each sample, showed values less than 0.1 related to untreated samples or higher than 0.1 for irradiated ones. Reported procedures were also tested over 60 days, longer than oyster shelf life confirming the applicability and feasibility of the proposed methods.

► Biocarbonates and silicate debris from oyster samples are reliable luminescence centres.
► Five luminescence methods were applied to detect irradiated oysters.
► TL is the ultimate confirmatory method for doubtful or positive PSL results.
► A sequential PSL and TL protocol on biocarbonates is advised as a powerful tool for routine checks.