A food basket investigation during the autumn of 1994

During the autumn of 1994 an investigation of foodstuffs has been accomplished to assess the average intake of 137Cs by the Swedish population due to the Chernobyl accident. A standardized food basket has been collected from two grocers in 10 localities, of which the majority came from areas with the highest fallout. The estimated maximum intake of 137Cs was 815 Bq/year in the inland of the county of Vaesterbotten. The population weighted average intake for the fallout affected counties was 435 Bq/year. The rest of the county received an intake of 235 Bq/year. The population weighted average of the intake for the whole county was estimated to 274 Bq/year. From this intake the calculated body burden would be 1.3 Bq/kg for the average citizen. Whole-body measurements of a sample of the population gave 2.0 Bq/kg. A plausible explanation would be that 40% of the intake of 137Cs can have its origin from the 10% of the consumption of foodstuffs that are home produced or collected for the average individual in Sweden. The average intake of 274 Bq/year gives a committed effective dose equivalent of 3.6 μSv. 6 refs, 10 tabs