<unk>  is used to reduce or eliminate pests and the risk of<unk> -borne illnesses as well as prevent or slow spoilage and plant maturation or sprouting. Depending on the dose, some or all of the organisms, microorganisms, bacteria, and viruses present are destroyed, slowed, or rendered incapable of reproduction. When targeting bacteria, most<unk> s are irradiated to significantly reduce the number of active microbes, not to sterilize all microbes in the product.<unk>  cannot return spoiled or over-ripe<unk>  to a fresh state. If this<unk>  was processed by<unk> , further spoilage would cease and ripening would slow, yet the<unk>  would not destroy the toxins or repair the texture, color, or taste of the<unk>  slows the speed at which enzymes change the<unk> . By reducing or removing spoilage organisms and slowing ripening and sprouting (e.g. potato, onion, and garlic)<unk>  is used to reduce the amount of<unk>  that goes bad between harvest and final use. Shelf-stable products are created by<unk> g<unk> s in sealed packages, as<unk>  reduces chance of spoilage, the packaging prevents re-contamination of the final product.<unk> s that can tolerate the higher doses of radiation required to do so can be sterilized. This is useful for people at high risk of infection in hospitals as well as situations where proper<unk>  storage is not feasible, such as rations for astronauts. Pests such as insects have been transported to new habitats through the trade in fresh produce and significantly affected agricultural production and the environment once they established themselves. To reduce this threat and enable trade across quarantine boundaries,<unk>  is irradiated using a technique called phytosanitary<unk> . Phytosanitary<unk>  sterilizes the pests preventing breeding by treating the produce with low doses of<unk>  (less than 1000 Gy). The higher doses required to destroy pests are not used due to either affecting the look or taste, or cannot be tolerated by fresh produce.
Food irradiation
Dietary supplement
Antibiotic use in dentistry
Chewing tobacco
Work accident
Heated tobacco product
Modified risk tobacco product
Vegetarian nutrition