Food Standards Agency
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Radioactivity report published
The level of man-made radioactivity, to which people in the UK are exposed, remained below the EU legal limit during 2011, concludes the tenth Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE) annual report, published yesterday by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The report combines results from the Agency’s monitoring programme with those of the Environment Agency, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
Comprehensive content
The monitoring programme measures radioactivity in different parts of the food chain, including that for people who live close to nuclear sites and eat locally produced food.
The report also assesses how much radioactivity people would absorb from authorised radioactive discharges in the environment.
The report finds that:
- the total dose of radiation, to members of the public in the UK, is significantly below the EU annual dose limit of 1 millisievert for all exposures
- the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011 created no additional safety concerns for the food chain in the UK
Following a review and public consultation exercise, the restrictions on sheep farming, which followed from the Chernobyl nuclear incident of April 1986, were lifted in 2012.
Science behind the story
Radioactivity has been around since the Earth began and exists naturally in the atmosphere, soil, seas and rivers.
It is also created by human activity, during energy production and military operations, allowing very small amounts to get into the food and drink we consume.
However, the vast majority of radioactivity found in food results from natural rather than man-made sources.
The main purpose of the Agency’s monitoring programme is to make sure that levels of radionuclides in food and drink from authorised discharges do not cause unacceptable exposure to radioactivity through our food.
