Five years' experience of the international facility for food irradiation technology

The International Facility for Food Irradiation Technology (IFFIT) is an international project, jointly established by the IAEA, the FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Netherlands, to speed up progress in the practical introduction of the process of food irradiation in developing countries. The project is hosted by the Pilot Plant for Food Irradiation and the State Institute for Quality Control of Agricultural Products, Wageningen, The Netherlands. The purpose of IFFIT is: 1) to offer training and assist in international co-ordination of development and research in the fields of technology, economics and implementation of food irradiation; 2) to assist national and international agencies in their assessment of the feasibility of applying radiation preservation techniques to foods; 3) to develop and facilitate the dissemination of information on the above topics without proprietary restrictions. The paper summarizes IFFIT's activities of its first five years of active existence, including training courses, long-term applied research training, feasibility studies, evaluation of trial shipments of irradiated commodities, irradiation services, and information activities.