Food and drink

The environment, our bodies, the food and drink that we consume all contain a certain amount of radionuclides, these are generally in low amounts and from natural sources, such as potassium-40 a radioactive isotope of potassium that makes up about 0.012% of all natural potassium on earth. Radionuclides can be transferred from rocks and minerals present in soil and water to plants and then to animals, resulting in exposure of people to ionizing radiation as part of everyday life. Such exposure varies depending on the concentrations of radionuclides in food and water, and on local dietary habits.

The radionuclides in food may be a result of root uptake from the soil, direct settling onto crops from the atmosphere, or the transfer via aquatic pathways (freshwater or seawater). In the case of drinking water, radionuclides may be absorbed as water passes over or through rocks and soils.

Artificial radionuclides in food and drinking water are mostly present only in small amounts. They can originate from the fallout of past nuclear weapons tests, from the safe, authorized discharges from licensed nuclear facilities, from legacy sites or following large scale nuclear or radiological accidents that result in releases to the environment.

Requirement 51 of the IAEA International Basic Safety Standards (GSR Part 3) requires that regulatory bodies or other relevant authorities establish specific reference levels for exposure due to radionuclides in food and drinking water in normal everyday situations, that is non-emergency situations.

The IAEA in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) reviewed and summarized criteria for radionuclide activity concentrations for food and drinking water as well as the available international standards and guidance for different exposure situations related to the presence of radionuclides in food (IAEA TECDOC-1788) and provided suggested approaches and supporting material to assist national authorities in managing internal exposure from the consumption of radionuclides associated in food in non-emergency situations (IAEA TECDOC-2011 and IAEA Safety Report Series No. 114).

This set of documents, in conjunction with the WHO’s Guidelines for drinking-water quality and the FAO and WHO’s Codex General Standards for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed, give a harmonized scientific and technical foundation for implementing relevant GSR Part 3 requirements around the world.