Ineffectiveness of a Fluorometric Method for Identifying Irradiated Food Based on Thymine Glycol

Abstract

At dosages used for food irradiation, some of the thymine present in the DNA of irradiated food may be converted to thymine glycol. A fluorometric assay for thymine glycol was investigated as a possible method of detecting irradiated foods based on this effect. Experiments were performed on homogenates of irradiated chicken breast meat and on DNA isolated from irradiated chicken breast meat. In both cases the assay was subject to interference from one of the reagents, oaminobenzaldehyde, and lacked the necessary sensitivity to detect the thymine glycol produced by radiolysis of the DNA at relevant dosages.