Radiocesium activity reduction in boar meat by brining

Abstract

Meat of wild boar with an intial (137)Cs activity concentration of 103 Bq kg(-1) of fresh mass was treated by brining. Dry-salting reduced the (137)Cs activity only by about 12-18%. Subsequent brining was done by using both pure sodium chloride and a mixture of sodium chloride and potassium nitrate. After double-brine exchange, the (137)Cs activity concentration was reduced by at least 72%. The double-brine exchanges were done for two time intervals (the first each 24 h and the second each 7 days). There were no differences in the (137)Cs activity reduction for these two time intervals. From the technological point of view, the repeated exchange of the brine solution represents a relative easy method of (137)Cs activity reduction in contaminated pork meat.