Animal feeding stuffs: Methods of sampling and analysis - Determination of the radionuclides Iodine-131, Caesium-134 and Caesium-137 in feed; German version EN 17462:2021

This document describes a method for the determination of the mass-related activity (Bq/kg) of iodine-131, caesium-134 and caesium-137 in feedstuffs in monitoring laboratories. General guidelines for the preparation of feed samples and the measurement of the three radionuclides iodine-131, caesium-134 and caesium-137 by high resolution gamma spectrometry are presented. The purpose of this document is to supplement existing standards. Further information on sample preparation, moisture content determination and gamma spectrometry can be found in the specific standards referred to in this document. For example, ISO 20042 contains general recommendations on the selection of equipment, detectors and quality assurance for gamma spectrometry. The method was comprehensively statistically tested and evaluated in an interlaboratory study with five feed samples for the radionuclides iodine-131, caesium-134 and caesium-137. Details of the successfully tested working ranges for each of the radionuclides investigated are described in Annex C. The European standard was prepared by CEN/TC 327 'Animal feedingstuffs - Methods of sampling and analysis', the secretariat of which is held by NEN (Netherlands). The responsible German standardisation body is the working committee NA 057-03-03 AA 'Futtermittel' of the DIN Standards Committee for Food and Agricultural Products (NAL).