In the mission era the primary products were wheat, corn and other products grown in the mission fields, fruit (primarily in the south) and products made from cattle and sheep. The most lucrative product was a dried cattle hide, called Yankee Dollars.
In addition, irradiation is widely used to sterilize a variety of medical and household products, such as joint implants, band-aids, baby pacifiers, cosmetic ingredients, wine and bottle corks, and food packaging materials.o. Irradiation is equivalent to pasteurization for solid foods, but it is not the same as sterilization. Food irradiation can be an important tool in the war against illness and death from foodborne diseases. But it is not a substitute for comprehensive food safety programs throughout the food distribution system.
Irradiation has become an important commercial sterilization method for foods and pharmaceuticals; however, it can cause changes in the chemical structure of polymeric materials such as crosslinking and/or chain scission [24, 25, 26]. Furthermore, the irradiation effect can occur as a long-term reaction due to the presence of free radicals [27, 28]. The effects of irradiation on the degradation of PLA after exposure and during shelf life of PLA have not been much studied. Blanco and Siracusa [29] examined the effect of various coatings on thermal degradation of PLA, but did not examine irradiation or biodegradation.