Natural radioactivity levels in some vegetables and fruits commonly used in Najaf Governorate, Iraq.

Ali Abid Abojassim; Heiyam Najy Hady; Zahrah Baqer Mohammed

doi:10.18067/jbfs.v3i3.108

Natural radioactivity levels in some vegetables and fruits commonly used in Najaf Governorate, Iraq.

Ali Abid Abojassim, Heiyam Najy Hady, Zahrah Baqer Mohammed

Abstract

Radioactivity in Food may be contaminated with radioactive materials due to the natural and a nuclear emergency. The vegetables and fruits will become radioactive by deposit of radioactive materials falling on that from the air or through rain water. The aims of the present work were to measure the specific activity and annual effective dose as a result of the intake of vegetables and fruits collected from local market in Najaf governorate. Natural radioactivity was measured in samples using gamma ray spectrometer in this study. The results show that the average specific activities in vegetables samples for ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K were 5.21, 4.76, and 186.15 Bq kg^-1, respectively, the average specific activities for ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K in fruit samples were 2.53, 211.64 Bq kg^-1, while the total average annual effective dose in vegetables samples for adults, children (10 years old) and infants is estimated to be 0.117, 0.122, and 0.179 mSv, respectively, while the total average annual effective dose in fruit samples for adults, children (10 years old) and infants is estimated to be 0.141, 0.295, and 0.388 mSv, respectively. The values found for specific activity and the annual effective dose in all samples in this study were lower than worldwide median values for all groups according to UNSCEAR (2000) and ICRP (1996) respectively; therefore, these values are found to be safe.

Keywords

Natural Radioactivity. Vegetables and Fruits. Gamma ray spectrometer. Iraq food

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18067/jbfs.v3i3.108