Selected aspects of caesium-137 contamination in wild boars (Sus scrofa)

Abstract

Monitoring the activity of radionuclides in food is part of the monitoring system of foreign substances. A close correlation between gamma spectrometry determined by 137Cs activity concentration in the meat and stomach wall (r = 0.984) was found in monitored Slovak wild boars with a low activity of 137Cs . The transfer factors of the soil and the stomach content and the soil and the meat were approximately 0.07 at the median. The median transfer factor between the stomach content and the stomach wall is similar to that of the stomach wall and the meat (2.412 and 1.805). The mean value of 137Cs activity concentration in the muscles of wild boars from the Czech Republic was 46.7 Bq·kg-1. The mean value of 137Cs activity concentration in the stomach wall was 23.7 Bq·kg-1. The mutual correlation was r = 0.988. There was further correlation of 137Cs activity concentration between the heart and the diaphragm (r = 0.977), the heart and the tongue (r = 0.902), and the heart and the lungs (r = 0.906). Based on the results from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, there is hope that it will be possible to use a sample from the stomach wall to determine the activity concentration of 137Cs in meat, thereby replacing the commonly used and highly valued top side sample. In practice, monitoring soil contamination to predict the meat contamination of wild boars is more important than monitoring elements of the food chain. The potassium-caesium coefficient reached 5.57 in the muscles and 17.25 in the stomach wall.