Reindeer meat

After the Chernobyl accident, radiocesium isotopes were also elevated in trees and lichens bordering an alpine lake in Scandinavia and in lake sediments, invertebrates, and fishes (Table 32.18). Radiocesium levels in muscle of resident brown trout (Salmo trutta) remained elevated for at least 2 years (Brittain etal. 1991). People consuming food near this alpine lake derived about 90% of their effective dose equivalent from the consumption of freshwater fish, reindeer meat, and milk. The average effective dose equivalent of this group during the next 50 years is estimated at 6 to 9 mSv with a changed diet and 8 to 12 mSv without any dietary changes (Brittain et al. 1991). 

Reindeer meat, game, animal meat, fish, 1500 Bq (40,500 pCi) cesium-137/kg FW 15... 

Such calculations are applied in the risk analyses of contemplated nuclear waste repositories and in the risk evaluation of radium or plutonium content in drinking water. They are also used to establish limitations for intake of food from a contaminated area e.g. in Sweden reindeer meat with > 1500 Bq/kg is considered unfit as food (reindeer meat is the main protein intake for the Laps living in Northern Sweden). 

Drinking water levels in Scandinavia and some other European countries also showed levels of activity in some areas that exceeded the DERL set by the International Committee on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Supplies of vegetables, notably spinach, were withdrawn from sale in France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany, and restrictions were placed on reindeer meat in Lapland and on sheep in some areas of the UK. 

FIG. 15 Low-temperature calorimetric curves of carrots, reindeer meat, and white bread, showing ice melting. Instrument Mettler DSC 30. (From Ref. 91.)... 

YH Roos. Phase transitions and unfreezable water content of carrots, reindeer meat and white bread studied using DSC. J Food Sci 57 684-686 (1986). 

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