Implementation in laboratories of Latin America of procedures of harmonized essay for the determination of the radioactive contamination of food

In Latin America, nowadays, it is not had harmonized essay procedures for the determination of radioactive contaminants in foods. Equally, the great diversity of institutions that in each country are devoted to carry out this control and the difference in the level that its possess the same ones in quality matter, its impose the necessity to implant a Quality Management System on the base of harmonized technical criteria that its help to obtain reliable analytical results. With this end, it was proposed and it was approved the ARCAL LXXIX regional project: 'Harmonization of the technical and specific requirements of quality for the control of the radioactive contamination of foods'. In this work the aspects more significant of the design and content of the Manual of technical procedures for the determination of radioactive contaminants in foods, elaborated in the marks of the one referred project are presented. The same one includes eight procedures for the previous treatment of the samples, the spectrometric determination of gamma emitters radionuclides, the determination of the alpha activity indexes and total beta, of 131 I, 89,90 Sr, 226 Ra, 238,239 Pu and 3 H, using different methodologies validated in the region. The actions carried out to implement this Manual are also exposed. (Author)