The measurement of radioactivity in foodstuffs

The fallout of radioactivity from the Chernobyl accident gave rise to the need for large numbers of field and market surveys for radioactivity in foodstuffs in Germany. Due to the implementation of new government-mandated limits and a change in consumer attitudes, this need still persists today. In this article, the various methods available for measuring radioactivity in foodstuffs are reviewed and categorized by the type of information obtained and the degree of sample pretreatment required. A new category of instrument -- a consumer version of a simple NaI(Tl) gross gamma counter -- is introduced