This study was done to investigate the effect of ${gamma}$ irradiated beef feeding on antioxidant vitamin levels and defense enzyme activities in diethylnitrosamine(DEN) initiated rats. Weaning Sprague Dawley male rats were fed the diet containing ${gamma}$ irradiated ground beef at the dose 0, 3, 5 kGy as a 20% of protein source for 8 weeks. One week after feeding, rats were intraperitoneally injected twice with a dose of DEN(50mg/kg BW). As a promoter, 0.05% phenobarbital was fed in drinking water from one week after DEN treatment until the end of experiment. At the end of 8th week, serum level of vitamin C, serum and hepatic levels of retinol and tocopherol were determined. In addition, activities of cytosolic glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glutathione S transferase, catalase and hepatic superoxide dismutase(SOD) were measured. By ${gamma}$ irradiation, there was no significant effect on serum and hepatic levels of vitamin C and tocopherol except a significant decreasing effect on hepatic retinol level. There was also no significant effect on the activities of enzymes involved in antioxidative defense system, However, DEN treatment led to a significant increase in activities of glutathione reductase and glutathione S transferase while the activity of glutathione peroxidase was decreased. The activities of hepatic SOD and catalase were not changed by DEN treatment. Overall results indicate that the consumption of low dose of ${gamma}$ irradiated beef does not affect antioxidative defense system.