A Comparison of the Concentration of Naturally Occurring Radionuclides in Organic and Conventional Staple Food

Indian Journal of Pure & Applied Physics

article

Beant Kaur Guro¹  Sunil Kalkal¹  Rohit Mehra² 

[1] Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology;Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology

关键词: Organic food;    Comparison;    Natural radioactivity;    Conventional food;    Article;   

DOI  :  10.56042/ijpap.v61i6.2417

来源: National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources

【 摘 要 】

Fertilizers based on NPK are reported to have large concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides. Hence, fertilizers usage can elevate the concentration of natural radioisotopes in soil and groundwater leading to a higher concentration of 40K, 238U and 232Th in crops grown in these fields. In the last few years, a surge is witnessed in organic farming methods due to consumer demand. In this study, the concentrations of 40K,232Th and 226Ra are compared between organic and conventionally grown food crops. In total, 25 samples of organic and conventionally grown pulses and cereals were collected. The NaI(Tl) gamma-ray spectrometer was used for measuring naturally occurring radioisotopes in samples. The activity concentrations of 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th are almost same for both categories. The values of activity concentration of 226Ra and 232Th are well within the recommended limits but 40K activity concentration is higher than 400 Bq/kg in all the samples. The radium equivalent for all organic and conventional samples is below the reference value of 370 Bq/kg. The annual effective dose of children for 226Ra is higher than other age groups for wheat and rice samples but lower than the reference value of 2.4 mSv/year. The internal hazard index for all samples is less than 1 for both categories. All samples of both categories are safe for consumption as far as radionuclide concentrations are concerned. An elaborate investigation is advised for different food and drinking items to broaden the horizons.

【 授权许可】

Unknown