Radiation safety

Radiation Levels in Food Predicted

Food in Japan will be contaminated by low-level radioactivity for decades following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, but not at a level which poses a serious risk to human health, according to new research.

Scientists can predict with confidence what the effect of the Japanese disaster has had and will continue to have thanks to a legacy of data on radioactive pollution in the environment after decades of nuclear testing worldwide.

Professor Jim Smith, from the University of Portsmouth, and Dr Keiko Tagami, from the Japanese National Institute of Radiological Sciences, say radiation in the average diet in the region is very low.

The exception is for wild food, such as mushrooms and game animals, where contamination remains high.