Radiation Physics and Chemistry 57 (2000) 227±230

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Twenty-six years experience of commercialization on potato

irradiation at Shihoro, Japan
K. Kameyama, H. Ito*
Shihoro Agriculture Cooperative Association, Shihoro-machi, Kato-gun, Hokkaido, 080-1200, Japan

Abstract

The township of Shihoro is Japan's biggest and most advanced dairy and ®eld farming district which has been
producing potatoes as a key crop. The potato irradiation plant was built at Shihoro in 1973 with a potato
processing complex and has been shipping some 15,000 tons of sprout-inhibited potatoes a year during the
sprouting season. From a technical viewpoint, the radiation eciency of the Shihoro irradiator is lower than that of
the usual irradiation facility using a carton box. The success of the Shihoro irradiator is shown in that radiation
processing has been e€ectively included into one of the storage systems of a huge potato distribution facility. The
sprout-inhibited potatoes as such are no guarantee of better business derived from potatoes, but producers see the
merit of this process, because it makes possible year-round plant operations and planned shipments, keeps
employees in year-round service and prevents rural depopulation, with an increase in the volume of business by
expanding the area under crop. Recently in Japan, many companies have interests in commercial irradiation of
spices, medical herbs and farm animal feeds before application to common foods. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All
rights reserved.

Keywords: g-ray; Potato; Sprout inhibition; Commercialization; Food irradiation

1. Introduction
There has been development of the commercial food
irradiation in the world after the recommendation of
the wholesomeness of irradiated foods by the joint
FAO/IAEA/WHO expert committee in 1980. Prior to
the world trend of the commercialization of food ir-
radiation, a potato irradiation plant was built at
Hokkaido in northern Japan in 1973 (Takehisa and
* Corresponding author at: Radiation Application
Development Association, Takasaki, Gunma 370-1292, Japan.
Fax: +81-27-346-9688.
E-mail address: itoh@taka.jaeri.go.jp (H. Ito).
Ito, 1986). This plant is well known as the ®rst success-
ful food irradiation plant for commercialization in the
world and has been operated for 26 years.
The township of Shihoro in Hokkaido is Japan's
biggest and most advanced dairy and ®eld farming
district which has been producing potatoes as a key
crop. Shihoro is located in the central part of the
Tokachi plain, and the most important agricultural
district in Hokkaido. More than 50 years ago farmers
in this district were poor and su€ered from cold
weather incurring damages to crops. The main pro-
ducts in this district are forage crops, potatoes, sugar
beet and beans which are di€erent from the main
crop such as rice in other districts of Japan. When
farmers in the Shihoro district realized the need for

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228 K. Kameyama, H. Ito / Radiation Physics and Chemistry 57 (2000) 227±230
Fig. 1. Plane view of potato irradiator in the Shihoro Association. A, source; B, water pool; C, window; D, irradiation conveyor;
E, entrance line; F, line transfer; G, turntable; H, exit line.
stabilization and improvement of their farm incomes,
they organized an agricultural cooperative association
and under this association they made strenuous
e€orts to grow crops which are resistant to cold
weather, and ®nd more sophisticated use for their
products to yield a higher added value. As the potato
was a key crop in this area, they built a potato com-
plex for the processing of potatoes to starch, potato
chips, frozen foods and other products. In Japan,
chemical treatment is prohibited for sprout inhibition
of potatoes or onions. For allowing potatoes to be
kept in good condition during storage, the association
built an irradiation plant and large warehouses with a
potato-handling capacity of about 250,000 tons. This
potato complex is now being run by ®ve agricultural
cooperatives of the four townships. The leading role
in this complex has been played by the Shihoro
Agricultural Cooperative Association.
The `sprout-inhibited potatoes' as such are no guar-
antee of better business derived from potatoes, but the
producers see the merit of this process, because it
makes possible year-round plant operation and
planned shipment, keeps employees in year-round ser-
vice and prevents rural depopulation. Furthermore,
general consumers and major processors can be
assured of a constant supply of good-quality and low-
price potatoes on mainland Japan even in the o€-sea-
son.
2. Potato irradiation plant
The irradiation plant, constructed in 1973, is able to
store a Cobalt-60 source of 300 kCi and to irradiate
350 tons of potatoes with g-ray a day for a period of
four to ®ve months in a year. Two-thirds of the con-
struction cost of 400 million yen was supplied by the
government and local government of Hokkaido. After
permission was granted by the Ministry of Health and
Welfare for gamma irradiation of potatoes, design stu-
dies on the irradiation plant began in the Japan
Atomic Energy Research Institute at Takasaki under a
contract with the Shihoro Association (Takehisa,
1981). The Shihoro Association proposed that the irra-
diator be such that it could be used with large baskets
which can contain 1.5 tons of potatoes (98 cm deep for
g-ray direction  164 cm long  150 cm high), because
the containers of the above dimensions are already in
use for storage and transportation. Since such large
containers had never been used for irradiation, exper-
imental measurements of dose distribution in the con-
tainers were necessary to establish the irradiation
conditions for required doses. The build-up factor in
this design calculation was based on a dose distri-
bution measurement in the potatoes in the 1.5-ton con-
tainers. A conceptual design for an irradiator was
made after a study of dose distribution in the basket
containing potatoes. A principal requirement for the
 K. Kameyama, H. Ito / Radiation Physics and Chemistry 57 (2000) 227±230 229

Fig. 2. Harvest, storage and distribution of potatoes in the Shihoro Association.

irradiator was that it should be able to irradiate pota-
toes within the dose range of 0.06±0.15 kGy, and the
distance from source to container was determined to
be more than 4 m.
In Fig. 1, a container put on the irradiation line
from E comes on to the turntable D for 1 h gamma-ir-
radiation with rotation, then moves out of the cave
before it is returned from F to G for a 1808 turnabout
so that it again can be subjected to irradiation from
the opposite side before it goes through F to H. The
plant is designed to irradiate a potato container from
both sides so that it can be exposed to gamma-rays
with a minimum dose of 0.06 kGy and a maximum
dose less than 0.15 kGy on the surface of the con-
tainer. From a technical viewpoint, the radiation e-
ciency of the Shihoro irradiator was lower than that of
the usual irradiation facility using a carton box. The
success of the Shihoro irradiator is shown in that the
radiation plant has been e€ectively incorporated into
one of the storage systems of a huge potato distri-
bution facility as shown in Fig. 2.
ture state sometimes causes the internal tissue to turn
black.
On the storage of irradiated potatoes, it is necessary
to control storage temperature, humidity and venti-
lation for providing suitable conditions for keeping the
quality good. For the storage of irradiated potatoes,
enough oxygen must be supplied for the compensation
of respiration during storage which increases during
two weeks after irradiation. The most desirable tem-
perature for storage is in 5±108. If irradiated potatoes
are stored at a high temperature, they lose freshness
and may incur blacking inside of the potatoes.
Vitamin C content after cooking of irradiated pota-
toes was also determined. As shown in Table 1, the
percentage of total vitamin C loss in the irradiated
potatoes at 0.15 kGy and unirradiated ones were not
signi®cantly di€erent after cooking or bleaching, french
frying, boiling and microwave heating (Esashi et al.,
1992).
4. Actual problems and future prospects

3. E€ect of irradiation during storage of potatoes Sprout-inhibited potato production is about 15,000

The harvesting season of potatoes in Hokkaido is Table 1

during September and October. During harvesting and Combined e€ect of irradiation and cooking on the percentage
collection of potatoes, bruising occurs. Since ir- of total vitamin C loss in potato (Esashi et al., 1992)
radiation delays curing bruises on potatoes and causes
the putrefaction during storage, irradiation must take Cooking condition Irradiateda Unirradiateda Signi®canceb
place after the bruises have been completely cured. It
takes two to three weeks after harvesting. Bleached 7.428.1% 12.2 25.3 n.s.
Frenchfried 26.328.7 26.0 214.0 n.s.
For the purpose of sprout inhibition, though it var-
Steamed 26.725.3 26.7 28.6 n.s.
ies from potato variety to variety, irradiation must be Boiled 48.5210.8 48.1 28.4 n.s.
done during their period of dormancy, which lasts for Microwave heating 21.629.5 21.3 26.7 n.s.
some three months at this district. It is also necessary
to consider the maturity and storage temperature for a
Potatoes stored at 58C for 5 months.
b
the irradiation treatment. The irradiation at a prema- Irradiated vs unirradiated. n.s. Not signi®cant.
230 K. Kameyama, H. Ito / Radiation Physics and Chemistry 57 (2000) 227±230
Fig. 3. Location of Shihoro cooperative's business branches. 1, Kamiharubetu collection facility; 2, Kushiro warehouse; 3,
Tomakomai warehouse; 4, Tochigi shipment facility; 5, Kumagaya shipment facility; 6, Osaka refrigeration warehouse.
tons every year for shipment during the sprouting sea-
son of spring. Irradiation costs are 2 to 4 yen per kg.
The most important purpose of potato irradiation is to
control market price ¯uctuations, which in Japan can
be remarkable during the o€-season of March to May.
Irradiated potatoes are supplied to keep prices from
rising too high during the o€-season. Irradiated pota-
toes have been shipped by Agricultural Cooperatives
to the vegetable and fruit markets around Japan at o€-
season through business branches on the mainland
(Fig. 3). Irradiated potatoes are sold at supermarkets
or directly to large consumers such as some elementary
schools or hotels. At market, irradiated potatoes are
indicated by the label on the surface of carton boxes
as `sprout-inhibited potatoes by gamma-rays' with
stump. However, many potato processors are hesitant
in the use of irradiated potatoes to produce potato
chips or other products by the reasons of harassment
by opponents.
In the spring of 1977, some consumer groups started
a boycott movement against irradiated potatoes. The
general public became aware of the issue of irradiated
potatoes from newspaper headlines. Some misleading
headlines made the issue very serious. Consumption of
irradiated potatoes decreased considerably. This boy-
cott movement ceased after one or two years as a
result of educating consumers about irradiated foods.
However, misleading information on food irradiation
by mass media had continued for more than 20 years
and only ceased recently by education of some of the
media by providing correct information on food ir-
radiation.
The trend in world trade of irradiated foods is also
changing the image of food irradiation in Japan. The
ban of many chemicals for disinfestation or decontami-
nation of microorganisms in foods causes many pro-
blems in food industries. Recently, many companies
have become interested in commercial irradiation of
spices, medicinal herbs, imported fresh fruits and farm
animal feeds. Other physical methods, such as super-
heated steam treatment to spices or heat control
methods on fruit, causes damage to the quality. For
application of irradiation treatment on plant quaran-
tine of cut ¯owers, pilot scale research has been carried
out using X-rays from an accelerator. The minimum
dose is 400 Gy for inactivation of pests in cut ¯owers.
References
Esashi, T., Hanai, M., Nakashima, Y., 1992. Combined
e€ects of irradiation, storage and cooking on the total
vitamin C content of potato, The Final Report of the
Food Irradiation Research Committee for 1986±1991. The
Japan Radioisotope Association Tokyo, Japan.
Takehisa, M., 1981. Potato irradiation technology in Japan.
Radiat. Phys. Chem 18, 159±173.
Takehisa, M., Ito, H., 1986. Experiences of food irradiation
in Japan. Food Reviews International 2 (1), 19±44.