Radiological Dose Assessment and Survey of a Radioactive Contamination in Foodstuffs

Radiological dose assessments and surveys of a radioactive contamination have been performed for domestic and imported foodstuffs since 2003. The following samples among the imported foodstuffs were selected from open markets; one group is imported foodstuffs and the other group is domestic foodstuffs produced from around nuclear facilities. These included imported samples from a country associated with the Chernobyl nuclear accident, samples produced around nuclear power plants or nuclear tests, and foodstuffs reported as radioactively contaminated materials in a foreign country. After pretreatments such as a drying and homogenization, the samples were analyzed. Only the 137 Cs radionuclide was measured from among the regulation radionuclides( 137 Cs, 134 Cs, 131 I) of the Korea food code. All foodstuffs except Inonotus Obliquus (Chaga mushooms) were less than 25.24 Bq/kg or below the minimum detectable activity (MDA). The average activity concentrations of 203 mushroom samples was 38.60 Bq/kg but the effective dose was also far less than 1 mSv/yr. Based on the radiological dose assessments and surveys of a radioactive contamination, the radioactivity of the domestic and imported foodstuffs has not shown any significant levels during recent years in Korea.