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Anil Sasi

New Delhi, Aug. 11 Even before the Indo-US nuclear deal gets off the ground, collaborations in atomic energy applications between the two countries are gathering pace.

The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has signed a pact with the Texas-based National Centre for Electron Beam Food Research of the US for harnessing electron and X-ray irradiation technologies to promote food preservation and phytosanitary applications, Government officials said.

Nuclear irradiation is now used to treat Indian mangoes exported to the US, after a 17-year long hiatus. A team of officials from US Department of Agriculture (USDA), officials of Ministry of Agricultureand Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) recently visited BARC’s Krushak irradiation facility at Lasalgaon, Nasik, to certify the process .

The facility at Lasalgaon is being upgraded to meet US norms , a Government official said.

The mangoes are given a minimum dose of 400 Gray for quarantine treatment, which helps kill bacteria, prevent spoilage by insects and parasites, stop sprouting and delay ripening.

The technology is also being put to use on a commercial scale, with nearly 300 tonnes of onion from a private entrepreneur irradiated at the Krushak plant recently, officials said.

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