MONICA R. NEMŢANU*, MIRELA BRAŞOVEANU*, R. MINEA*, MARIA NICOLETA GRECU**, MIHAELA ALBULESCU***, ECATERINA MITRU*

*Electron Accelerators Department, National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, 409, Atomiştilor St., 077125 Bucharest-Măgurele, Romania
**National Institute of Materials Physics, 105 bis, Atomiştilor St., 077125 Bucharest-Măgurele, Romania
*** National Institute for Chemical-Pharmaceutical R&D, 112, Calea Vitan, 031299 Bucharest, Romania

Abstract. Biological raw materials can be contaminated with microorganisms and to make them suitable for commercialization, the microbial quality is necessary to be achieved. Irradiation is a decontamination method for a lot of foodstuffs, being a feasible, very effective and environment friendly one. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the possibility to apply the electron beam treatment on Spirulina platensis and green coffee for biological decontamination. The cyanobacterium Spirulina and green coffee have been irradiated with electron beams up to 40 kGy. Microbial load, antioxidant activity, rheological behaviour, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and absorption spectroscopy have been carried out. The results showed that accelerated electron beams could be efficient to decontaminate Spirulina as well as green coffee without significant changes in their properties.

Corresponding author’s e-mail: monica_nemtanu@yahoo.com

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