and thoroughly analyzed to determine the cause and improvement potential. such incidents are studied by personnel at multiple facilities, and improvements are mandated to retrofit existing facilities and future design. in the us the nuclear regulatory commission (nrc) regulates the safety of the processing facility, and the united states department of transportation (dot) regulates the safe transport of the radioactive sources. origin of the word "radurization" the word "radurization" is derived from radura, combining the initial letters of the word "radiation" with the stem of "durus", the latin word for hard, lasting. historical timeline 1895 wilhelm conrad röntgen discovers x-rays ("bremsstrahlung", from german for radiation produced by deceleration) 1896 antoine henri becquerel discovers natural radioactivity; minck proposes the therapeutic use 1904 samuel prescott describes the bactericide effects massachusetts institute of technology (mit) 1906 appleby & banks: uk patent to use radioactive isotopes to irradiate particulate food in a flowing bed 1918 gillett: u.s. patent to use x-rays for the preservation of food 1921 schwartz describes the elimination of trichinella from food 1930 wuest: french patent on food irradiation 1943 mit becomes active in the field of food preservation for the u.s. armyev 1951 u.s. atomic energy commission begins to co-ordinate national research activities 1958 world first commercial food irradiation (spices) at stuttgart, germany 1963 fda approves food irradiation. nasa begins irradiating astronaut food items to prevent food borne illness during space missions. 1970 establishment of the international food irradiation project (ifip), headquarters at the federal research centre for food preservation, karlsruhe, germany 1980 fao/iaea/who joint expert committee on food irradiation recommends the clearance generally up to 10 kgy "overall average dose" 1981/1983 end of ifip after reaching its goals 1983 codex alimentarius general standard for irradiated foods: any food at a maximum "overall average dose" of 10 kgy 1984 international consultative group on food irradiation (icgfi) becomes the successor of ifip 1986 january peoples republic of china opens their first food irradiation facility in shanghai 1994 india approves irradiation of spices, potato and onion. 1997 fao/iaea/who joint study group on high-dose irradiation recommends to lift any upper dose limit 1998 the european union's scientific committee on food (scf) voted in favour of eight categories of irradiation applications 1999 the european union adopts directives 1999/2/ec (framework directive) and 1999/3/ec (implementing directive) limiting irradiation a positive list whose sole content is one of the eight categories approved by the scf, but allowing the individual states to give clearances for any food previously approved by the scf. 2000 germany leads a veto on a measure to provide a final draft for the positive list. 2003 codex alimentarius general standard for irradiated foods: no longer any upper dose limit 2003 the scf adopts a "revised opinion" that recommends against the cancellation of the upper dose limit. 2004 icgfi ends 2011 the successor to the scf, european food safety authority (efsa), reexamines the scf's list and makes further recommendations for inclusion.