Review of studies on the behavior of radioactive cesium in the processing/cooking of domestic agricultural products

Abstract

A decade has passed since the radioactive contamination of domestic agricultural, livestock and fishery products were caused by the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The major radionuclides contaminating domestic food products were radioactive iodine (¹³¹I) and radioactive cesium (¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs). The Japanese government immediately set provisional regulation values for controlling the contamination level of these radioactive substances in food, and the inspection of radioactive substances in domestic food products was commenced. Due to these efforts, the contamination level of these radionuclides in food offered for sale, except for some natural foods, has been maintained at a low level since immediately after the accident. After the accident, consumer concern about the safety of radioactively-contaminated food grew rapidly. In response to this, since 2011, the results of radioactive cesium dynamics related to processing/cooking for domestic agricultural, livestock and fishery products have been actively acquired, primarily by domestic researchers. Here we review the government’s response to the radioactive contamination of foods immediately after the accident and outline the studies of the dynamics of radioactive cesium in the processing or cooking of domestic agricultural products.