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The treatment of foods with ionizing energy in the form of gamma rays, accelerated electrons and X rays can produce beneficial effects, such as inhibiting the sprouting in potatoes, onions and garlic, controlling insects in fruits, vegetables and grains, inhibiting the growth of fungi, pasteurizing fresh meat, poultry and seafood and sterilizing spices and food additives. After many years of research, these processes have been approved by regulatory authorities in many countries and commercial applications have been increasing. High-energy X rays are especially useful for treating large packages of food. The most attractive features are product penetration, absorbed dose uniformity, high utilization efficiency and short processing time. The ability to energize the X-ray source only when needed enhances the safety and convenience of this technique. The availability of high-energy, high-power electron accelerators, which can be used as X-ray generators, makes it feasible to process large quantities of food economically. Several industrial accelerator facilities already have X-ray conversion equipment and several more will soon be built with product conveying systems designed to take advantage of the unique characteristics of high-energy X rays. These concepts will be reviewed briefly in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]