Does Harlan Laboratories offer irradiated standard diets and bedding products?
Harlan Laboratories offers irradiated diets, bedding, and enrichment items. Irradiation reduces the bioburden (number of organisms) contained by a product by exposing the product to gamma ionizing radiation from cobalt-60. Organisms exposed to gamma irradiation are damaged at the molecular level often with lethal effects. The net result is a decrease in the amount of viable microorganisms present in the product. Harlan irradiates all Teklad products at a minimum dose of 2.0 Mrad (20kGy) and a maximum of 5.0 Mrad (50 kGy).
