3. Technical aspects. Installations

From a technical point of view, ionization has the following characteristics.

• This is a "cold" sterilization process used to treat heat-sensitive products, and therefore food products. The temperature rise is 0.25 ˚C/kGy for a specific heat product equal to 1.

• This is a residue-free process: after treatment, products can be used directly, as there are no residues following radiation. Food products can be consumed immediately.

• Ionization is carried out through leak-proof packaging, enabling the product to be treated at the end of the production line. All treated products are packaged; depending on the type of product, the packaging may or may not be final (i.e. intended for sale). For example, in the case...