As all the mushrooms, Amanita species experiment several conservation problems, with a post-harvest life limited to a few days. Drying is one of the most used methods in mushrooms preservation. Food irradiation is another possible way to improve food quality and insure its security. Among the emerging irradiation technologies, electron beam has wide application, allowing high throughput, wide flexibility and potential, without any negative effect on the environment. The effects of different electron beam irradiation doses in Amanita genus, were assessed by measuring the changes produced on a wide variety of nutritional, chemical and antioxidant indicators. The evaluated profiles indicated differences among non-irradiated and irradiated samples, but a high similarity among different doses. This finding advises the highest assayed dose (10 kGy), ensuring higher effectiveness from the decontamination and disinfestation point of view, without having stronger effects than those observed for the lower doses.
The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support of research centres CIMO (PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011) and REQUIMTE (PEst-C/EQB/LA0006/2011). Â. Fernandes and J.C.M. Barreira thank FCT, POPH-QREN and FSE for their grants (SFRH/BD/76019/2011 and SFRH/BPD/72802/2010, respectively). Prof. A. Chmielewski, General Director of the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Warsaw, Poland, for allowing e-beam irradiations.
