Assessment of Annual Effective Dose for Natural Radioactivity of Gamma Emitters in Biscuit Samples in Iraq

Biscuits are an important type of food, widely consumed by babies in Iraq and other countries. This work uses gamma spectroscopy to measure the natural radioactivity due to long-lived gamma emitters in children's biscuits; it also estimates radiation hazard indices, that is, the radium equivale...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of food protection 2015-09, Vol.78 (9), p.1766-1769
Main Authors: Abojassim, Ali Abid, Al-Alasadi, Lubna A, Shitake, Ahmed R, Al-Tememie, Faeq A, Husain, Afnan A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adults
Age groups
Child
Cookies
Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation
Food
Food Irradiation
Food safety
Gamma Rays
Gamma spectroscopy
Humans
Infant
Iraq
Models, Theoretical
Nuclear accidents & safety
Radiation
Radiation hazards
Radiation Monitoring - methods
Radioactivity
Radium
Radium - analysis
Sensors
Spectrum analysis
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Summary:Biscuits are an important type of food, widely consumed by babies in Iraq and other countries. This work uses gamma spectroscopy to measure the natural radioactivity due to long-lived gamma emitters in children's biscuits; it also estimates radiation hazard indices, that is, the radium equivalent activity, the representative of gamma level index, the internal hazard index, and the annual effective dose in children. Ten samples were collected from the Iraqi market from different countries of origin. The average specific activities for (226)Ra, (232)Th, and (40)K were 9.390, 3.1213, and 214.969 Bq/kg, respectively, but the average of the radium equivalent activity and the internal hazard index were 33.101 Bq/kg and 0.107, respectively. The total average annual effective dose from consumption by adults, children, and infants is estimated to be 0.655, 1.009, and 0.875 mSv, respectively. The values found for specific activity, radiation hazard indices, and annual effective dose in all samples in this study were lower than worldwide median values for all groups; therefore, these values are found to be safe.
ISSN:0362-028X
1944-9097
DOI:10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-15-067