Artificial environmental radionuclides in Europe and methods of lowering their foodstuff contamination – a review

Beňová, Katarína; Dvořák, Petr; Tomko, Martin; Falis, Marcel

doi:10.2754/avb201685010105

Acta Veterinaria > Archive > 2016, Vol. 85 > Issue 1 > Artificial environmental radionuclides…

Acta Vet. Brno 2016, 85: 105-112

https://doi.org/10.2754/avb201685010105

Artificial environmental radionuclides in Europe and methods of lowering their foodstuff contamination – a review

Katarína Beňová¹, Petr Dvořák², Martin Tomko¹, Marcel Falis³

¹University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Department of Biology and Genetics, Košice, Slovak Republic
²University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Brno, Czech Republic
³University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Košice, Slovak Republic

Received September 16, 2015
Accepted February 10, 2016

This review discusses the consequences of the food chain contamination with radionuclides, especially focusing on the radiocaesium impact after the Chernobyl nuclear accident. In particular, the ¹³⁷Cs isotope still represents a risk. Until present it is still detectable in the meat of game animals, especially in wild boar, but also in elk and reindeer. Although the occurrence of highly contaminated foods in most of Europe is currently limited, along the German-Czech border (the Šumava Region) the activity concentration of the ¹³⁷Cs isotope in the meat of wild boar exceeds the acceptable limit several times. Additionally, the article describes simple processing technologies (cooking, pickling etc.) that lead to reduction of radionuclides in contaminated food.