Environmental transfer parameters for radionuclides released from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Chapter 8 Food processing

Food consumption habits differ worldwide. Furthermore, different food processing methods are used that vary with agricultural and climatic conditions, economic constraints and national or regional traditions. The activity concentration of radionuclides in food that is consumed is modified by both domestic and industrial food processing such as boiling, removal of certain parts of the raw food (e.g. bran, peel, shell and bone), drying and mixing with other, uncontaminated food components.The transfer of radionuclide to foodstuffs described in preceding chapters are relatively well studied and robust values for quantifying radionuclide transfer to plants and animals are available in international compilations of data (eg., IAEA-TECDOC-1616, 2009). However, the impact of food processing on the amounts of consumed radionuclides can be significant, Therefore, neglecting variations in radionuclide activity concentrations in foodstuffs during food processing can lead to either overestimation (in most cases) or underestimation of the ingestion doses to humans (IAEA-TRS-472, 2010). This chapter provides an overview of the data obtained after the FDNPP accident on the modification of radionuclide activity concentrations in foodstuffs during industrial and domestic food processing