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Abstract
AbstractStrontium-90 (Sr-90) contamination in food is a major public health issue. Several radiochemical methods are available for the determination of Sr-90. However, the application of these procedures is not focused on solid foods, but only on liquid (milk, water, etc.) and environmental matrices, and they were not fully validated. The aims of this work were to establish and validate a fast, sensitive method for the determination of Sr-90 in solid food matrices such as meat and dairy products, seafood, vegetables, and animal feed, using a specific resin for extraction and ultra-low-level liquid scintillation counting for detection. The method was optimised and validated according to relevant legislation. Good analytical performance was obtained, including high specificity and linearity together with low measurement uncertainty (13.1%). The minimal detectable activity was 11 mBq kg−1, and the mean repeatability (CV%) and recovery values were 10.7% and 100.1%, respectively. These parameters assured method applicability for official food safety controls. The method was applied to reference materials and submitted to proficiency test round to confirm its reliability for Sr-90 quantification in solid foodstuffs and feed. The newly established method may be broadly applicable to complex matrices.
Highlights
The discovery of radioactivity in 1896 has led to applications in different sectors, including medicine, nuclear power, and the arms industry
The ashes were dissolved in 50 mL of 65% (w/v) HNO3, directly in the container, transferred in a 500-mL glass flask, and 1 mL of 10,000 mg L −1 strontium standard solution (Sr carrier) was added
A first aliquot of 50 μL of the solution was withdrawn, transferred to a 50-mL volumetric flask, and diluted to 50 mL by the addition of 0.1 M H NO3. This step is used for determining the Sr chemical yield by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP/MS)
Summary
The discovery of radioactivity in 1896 has led to applications in different sectors, including medicine, nuclear power, and the arms industry. Sr-90 is one of the most dangerous fission products with respect to radiotoxicity due to its long physical and biological halflife (T1/2 = 28.50 y) (Wilken and Joshi 1991) and chemical similarity to calcium (Vaida and Kim 2010). The similar metabolic behaviour to that of calcium leads to radionuclide accumulation in bone tissues (Iammarino et al 2018). The determination of Sr-90 can be performed in two ways: direct or indirect. The first approach involves the direct separation of Sr-90 from the other components and subsequent instrumental measurement. The second approach involves the indirect determination of Sr-90 by the determination of Y-90
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