The changes in DNA damage were investigated during storage after irradiation. Potato, garlic were irradiated at 0.05, 0.07, 0.1 and 0.15 kGy and stored for 3 months. Ginger was irradiated at 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.05 kGy and stored for 1 month. The comet assay was applied to the sample immediately after irradiation and at the end of storage. Samples were isolated, grounded and the suspended cells were embedded in an agarose layer. After lysis of the cells, they were electrophoresed for 1 min. and then stained. DNA fragmentation in seeds caused by irradiation was quantified as tail length and tail moment (tail length ×% DNA in tail) by comet image analyzing system. Right after irradiation, the differences in tail length between unirradiated and irradiated samples were significant(p〈0.05) in potato, garlic and ginger. With increasing the irradiation doses, statistically significant longer extension of the DNA from the nucleus toward anode was observed. The results represented as tail moment showed similar tendency to those of tail length. Similarly in the stored samples, even 1 or 3 months after irradiation, all the irradiated samples significantly showed longer tail length than the unirradiated controls. These results indicate that the comet assay could be one of the simple methods of detecting irradiated samples. Moreover, the method could detect DNA damage even after 1 or 3 months after irradiation.