The International Database on Insect Disinfestation and Sterilization or IDIDAS provides information on the doses of radiation used in the control of pest insects and mites of agricultural, commercial or quarantine significance. It includes data on both the radiation dose required for the disinfestation of generic commodity groups, fresh and durable, and also the radiation dose used to induce sterility for pest control through the sterile insect technique. Information on disinfestation and sterilization, where available, is shown together for each pest species and is accessed through a single search function.

IDIDAS entities follow a formal classification of pests descending from Class through Order, Family and Genus to Species and may be accessed through a Taxonomic Tree. One or more common names is given to assist in searching of the database but these often differ from country to country and care must be taken to ensure that the species is correct for the locality. Taxonomic classification is constantly changing due to revisions and subdivisions at the species level. Where it is possible to do so with certainty, previous names (synonyms) of pests actually tested are given and are searchable.

DIR-SIT is being developed with the objective of aiding the retrieval of information on all mass rearing facilities of sterile pest insects, ticks and mites. The database compiles information on production size, radiation process, quality control parameters, dosimetry, programme objective, trans-boundary shipment, field release data, and the facility full address. The content of the directory is under the responsibility of the facility's editor, who may updated the information over the Internet to fulfill the new requirement of their programme. The old version of the Directory,  World-wide Directory of SIT Facilities , which is a pdf file, can be consulted until the DIR-SIT development is completed.

Directory of Disinfestation facilities

Disinfestation facilities can be consulted by clicking on Authorized food irradiation facilities database.

In addition to original papers, references have been drawn from abstract and other databases including those of the Federal Research Centre for Nutrition, Karlsruhe, Germany; Agricola and CABI London and the International Nuclear Information System (INIS), Vienna. The disinfestation data in IDIDAS has been compiled by Neil Heather, University of Queensland Gatton College, Australia, under the direction of the Food and Environmental Protection Sub-Programme of the Joint FAO/IAEA Agricultural Programme with the assistance of Guy Hallman, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Weslaco, Texas, USA. The sterilization data has been compiled by Abdeljelil Bakri under the direction of the Insect Pest Control Sub-Programme of the Joint FAO/IAEA Agricultural Programme.

Other links

In 1991, a Task Force Convened by the International Consultative Group on Food Irradiation demonstrated that low-dose irradiation for disinfestation can be effectively used as a quarantine treatment of fresh fruits and vegetables. Data from research on more than 10 major species of fruit flies have shown that no adult can develop from other stages of insects infesting fruits and vegetables after irradiation with a minimum dose of 150 Gy. Thus, fundamental research on irradiation as a quarantine treatment against fruit fly species infesting fruits and vegetables is no longer required. Other data also have shown that a minimum dose of 300 Gy will prevent other species of insects and mites from becoming established in non-infested areas.

INPhO is an FAO-databank project of the Post-harvest Management Group (AGSI). INPhO collects, collates and disseminates information relevant to post harvest management. It also provides a communication platform for post-harvest experts.

Disclaimer

IDIDAS is a database intended to provide access to scientific and other publications which detail findings on the irradiation dose required for disinfestation of specific commodities against specific pests for specific purposes and for sterilizing pests for the sterile insect technique. These findings are summarized in IDIDAS but it is the responsibility of the user to confirm the information by way of the original publication. Whilst every effort has been made to search all relevant publications no assurance can be given that the reference search has been exhaustive.