Uses on the Farm

Nuclear Nutrition?

Most people are amazed to learn that nuclear energy plays an important role in ensuring that we have safe and healthy food. Radioisotopes help farmers control insect infestations and scientists develop fertilizers that promote better and healthier plant crops.

Irradiation to preserve food has been approved for use in the United States by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the technique is commonly used in many countries throughout the world. The International Atomic Energy Agency, under charter by the United Nations, has a number of coordinated programs to preserve foods that are important to developing nations. In a world that produces more than enough food for its inhabitants but where millions still starve, the preservation of food by irradiation may well be the key to a more efficient distribution of food.

Helping Plants Grow

Radioisotopes can help farmers control insects that destroy crops. The procedure involves exposing some of the pest insects to a radioisotope, such as cobalt-60, in a laboratory and then letting them out to mate with the wild insects. Over time, this results in fewer pest insect eggs hatching.

Using the radioisotopes means farmers can use fewer chemical pesticides. Because chemical pesticides are not used, no harmful residues are left on crops. In addition, the approach does not kill beneficial insects.

Cutting Down on Fertilizers

Special radioisotopes called “radiotracers” help scientists study the nutritional needs of plants. Radiotracers allow us to determine how plants use the nutrition in fertilizers. This knowledge helps develop fertilizers that help farmers to raise better plants and to make better use of fertilizers, water, and land resources. Through such means, some experts estimate that the amount of fertilizers used throughout the world could be cut in half.

The agricultural community also uses radioisotopes to improve plants and the fruits and vegetables they produce. By exposing seeds to radioisotopes, plants can be helped to resist diseases and to adapt to climate changes better. The plants are able to produce more healthy fruits and vegetables as a result.

Preserving Food without Chemicals

To “preserve” food means to keep it fresh and safe to eat for a longer time. Keeping food in a refrigerator is one way to preserve it. Other methods include freezing it or canning it, or adding ingredients called “preservatives,” which can be either natural or chemical substances.

One of the most exciting uses of radiation from radioisotopes is to preserve foods for longer periods of time. Called “irradiation,” the process makes chemical additives and refrigeration unnecessary. The technique also requires less energy than other food preservation methods.

Food is irradiated by exposing it to gamma rays from radioisotopes, but the radiation does not make the food become radioactive. The radiation process destroys bacteria, viruses, molds, and insects that cause spoilage and disease. These benefits are especially helpful in developing countries, where food spoilage is a common cause of malnutrition, disease, and even death.

American astronauts have taken food sterilized by irradiation to the moon and on space shuttle flights. They liked the taste of it better than any other type of preserved food.

To learn more about irradiating food to kill bacteria, visit:
Food Irradiation: A Safe Measure

To learn more about why bacteria in food is bad, play these fun games:
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