A ten-year survey of radiocontamination of edible Balkan mushrooms: Cs-137 activity levels and assessed dose to the population

Previous studies have demonstrated that mushrooms, due to their ability to absorb environmental elements and to grow in almost every habitat, can be heavily contaminated by radioactive isotopes, especially when radiological emergencies like the Chernobyl accident occurs. In this work two species of edible mushrooms have been considered -Boletus edulis and Amanita caesarea-imported in Italy from two different Balkan areas: Macedonia and Albania/Kosovo. The different behavior of the two species in accumulating radiocesium has been investigated, showing that the first variety of mushrooms is more contaminated with Cesium-137 than the second. It has been verified that there were no observed differences in radiocontamination levels between mushrooms originating from different areas. During the period 2008-2017, the mean Cesium-137 activity in edible mushrooms has followed a decreasing trend, whose rate is faster than the natural one. Two different consumption scenarios were considered: in both cases the consumption of mushrooms proved to be non-dangerous for humans.