Maximum permitted food levels

These levels will be put into force in the EU after a nuclear accident (Council Regulation 3954/87 Euratom).

	Baby food (intended for babies up to 6 months)	Dairy products in Bq/kg	Other foodstuff (except minor foodstuff) in Bq/kg	Liquid foodstuff in Bq/kg
Isotopes of strontium, notably Sr-90	75	125	750	125
Isotopes of iodine, notably I-131	150	500	2,500	500
Alpha-emitting isotopes of plutonium and transplutonium elements, notably Pu-239, Am-241	1	20	80	20
All other nuclides of half-life greater than 10 days, notably Cs-137 and Cs-134	400	1,000	1,250	1,000

 

For food imports that can be affected by Chernobyl fallout, maximum permitted levels for caesium were 370 Bq/kg for dairy products and baby food and 600 Bq/kg for other foodstuff. (Regulation 733/2008)

In Austria, after Chernobyl the following food levels were valid (until Austria joined the European Union in 1995) (BKA 1991):

 

	Baby food in Bq/kg	Dairy produce (without cheese) in Bq/kg	Fruits, vegetables, mushrooms in Bq/kg	Poultry, pork in Bq/kg	Cheese, other meat, nuts, honey in Bq/kg	Drinking water in Bq/l
Sr-90						0.074
I-131		185	74			3.7
Cs-134, Cs-137	11.1	185	111	185	592	1.85