TY - JOUR

T1 - Assessment of the effectiveness of the post-Fukushima food monitoring campaign in the first year after the nuclear accident

T2 - A hypothesis

AU - Steinhauser, Georg

N1 - Funding Information: The author thanks Alexander Brandl and Peter Bossew for insightful and inspiring discussions on this topic. This study was supported by Grant Number T42OH009229-07 from CDC NIOSH Mountain and Plains Education and Research Center . Its contents are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC NIOSH and MAP ERC. The author also gratefully acknowledges funding by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) , grant number NRC-HQ-12-G-38-0044 .

PY - 2016/1/1

Y1 - 2016/1/1

N2 - The purpose of this study was to assess whether or not the food monitoring campaign after the Fukushima nuclear accident has been successful in reducing the number of above-limit-food from reaching the consumers. The hypothesis of this study is that the fraction of "post-market" food can be used for this purpose, when the post-market fraction in the above-limit (p') items is compared to the post-market fraction in the entity of food items (p) that have been screened for radionuclides (134Cs and 137Cs). Indeed the post-market fraction in most vegetarian produce decreased significantly in the above-limit food items (p'/p < 1), indicating a high efficiency of the monitoring campaign. For tea, however, the analysis reveals a low efficiency of the campaign (p'/p ≈ 1). For beef, the fraction of post-market-foods within the above-limit samples was much higher than the respective fraction in the entity of measured samples (p'/p > 1), indicating a much lower effectiveness of the monitoring action for beef. The author speculates that, by following the governmental monitoring manual (which gives "meat" only second priority), the sudden exceedances caught the monitoring agencies unprepared and triggered a much higher density monitoring of beef with the delay of several weeks. Even then, many above limit items reached the market (mainly because the monitoring during this period had focused on the post-market). Therefore, it is likely that some above-limit beef has been consumed by the public. For other meat products, the fraction of post-market samples was very low, which does not allow for the validation of the effectiveness of the monitoring campaign. Overall, the monitoring seemed to have been more effective for vegetarian produce than for meat.

AB - The purpose of this study was to assess whether or not the food monitoring campaign after the Fukushima nuclear accident has been successful in reducing the number of above-limit-food from reaching the consumers. The hypothesis of this study is that the fraction of "post-market" food can be used for this purpose, when the post-market fraction in the above-limit (p') items is compared to the post-market fraction in the entity of food items (p) that have been screened for radionuclides (134Cs and 137Cs). Indeed the post-market fraction in most vegetarian produce decreased significantly in the above-limit food items (p'/p < 1), indicating a high efficiency of the monitoring campaign. For tea, however, the analysis reveals a low efficiency of the campaign (p'/p ≈ 1). For beef, the fraction of post-market-foods within the above-limit samples was much higher than the respective fraction in the entity of measured samples (p'/p > 1), indicating a much lower effectiveness of the monitoring action for beef. The author speculates that, by following the governmental monitoring manual (which gives "meat" only second priority), the sudden exceedances caught the monitoring agencies unprepared and triggered a much higher density monitoring of beef with the delay of several weeks. Even then, many above limit items reached the market (mainly because the monitoring during this period had focused on the post-market). Therefore, it is likely that some above-limit beef has been consumed by the public. For other meat products, the fraction of post-market samples was very low, which does not allow for the validation of the effectiveness of the monitoring campaign. Overall, the monitoring seemed to have been more effective for vegetarian produce than for meat.

KW - Cattle

KW - Food monitoring

KW - Food safety

KW - Fukushima nuclear accident

KW - Internal exposure

KW - Radioactive fallout

KW - Radiocesium

KW - Regulatory limit

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84944097517&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2015.09.013

DO - 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2015.09.013

M3 - Article

C2 - 26454204

AN - SCOPUS:84944097517

VL - 151

SP - 136

EP - 143

JO - Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

JF - Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

SN - 0265-931X

ER -