Table 9 — Estimated average total costs per pound of radiation-pasteurizing fresh 

 strawberries, selected radiation source, facility size, and hours of annual oper- 

 ation, at an applied dosage level of 220 kilorads l/ 



TT , , , > ,- , t - -,- : Cobalt 60 facility size : 3 Mev. X-ray m ac hine facility size 

 ' • 1-kw. : 3-kw. : 3-kw.' 



-Cents- 



2,000 (half year)...: 2.9 1.7 2.4 



4,000 (full year)... : 2.0 1.1 1.6 



1/ The conditions assumed are (1) 2-shift operation, 5 days per week, and (2) cobalt 

 60 and X-ray machine facilities have 30 and 35 percent net utilization efficiencies, 

 and source use factors of 95 and 80 percent respectively. Not included are the engi- 

 neering and design costs shown in table 12, because it is assumed that a number of 

 ■facilities would be built from the same blueprints. The output per kw.-hr. of facility 

 operation is (1) cobalt 60 — 1,064 pounds, and (2) X-ray machine — 1,046 pounds. 



Source: Computed from data in tables 4, 5, and 8. 



Technical research shows that the packaging materials currently in use are 

 adequate and will easily withstand low-level radiation* 5/ Consequently, container 

 costs should not change significantly if radiation-pasteurization is adopted. 



To simplify this analysis, long-run supply responses are not considered. Esti- 

 mates of spoilage loss savings that could result from radiation-pasteurizing fresh 

 strawberries are shown below e 



Spoilage Loss Reduction 



Recent research by the University of California, Michigan State University, and 

 the Agricultural Research Service, U„S, Department of Agriculture, shows that fresh 

 strawberries can be successfully radiation- pasteurized at an optimum dosage level 

 of 200 kilorads. Current spoilage losses in marketing fresh strawberries are esti- 

 mated at 15 percent (table 1, coL 2), If strawberries are radiation=*pasteurized and 

 handled under usual marketing conditions, spoilage losses can be reduced to about 

 5 percent, depending on the amount of infection with spoilage organisms at harvest, 6/ 



At the 1959-63 monthly average U„S, retail price of 45,2 cents per pound of fresh 

 strawberries, a two-thirds reduction in the 15-percent rate of spoilage represents 

 4,5 cents per pound of shipping point weight (table 14), This savings is more than 

 enough to pay for expected radiation- pasteurizing costs (table 9), Therefore, this 

 evaluation indicates that radiation-pasteurizing is economically feasible for straw- 

 berries. 



In the above evaluation, no consideration was given to the likely influence of in- 

 creased consumable supplies on prices. Radiation-pasteurizing would cause con- 

 sumable strawberry supplies to increase, and this would exert a downward pressure 



5/ Discussions with researchers from Continental Can Company, andHazelton 

 Laboratories, Inc, 



6/ Information supplied by Drs. E, C. Maxie and N. F, Sommer of the Department 

 of Pomology, University of California, Davis. 



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