RADIOISOTOPES
Online ISSN : 1884-4111
Print ISSN : 0033-8303
ISSN-L : 0033-8303
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Radiocaesium Food Processing Retention Factors for Rice with Decreasing Yield Rates due to Polishing and Washing, and the Radiocaesium Distribution in Rice Bran
Keiko TAGAMIShigeo UCHIDA
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JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2012 Volume 61 Issue 5 Pages 223-229

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Abstract

The food processing retention factor (Fr) is an important parameter to estimate radiation dose by food ingestion. Since rice is a staple food in Japan, we measured radiocaesium Fr for rice collected in 2011, which was contaminated with radiocaesium due to the accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Brown rice samples were polished at yield rates down to 82%, and at each yield rate, Fr was obtained. At a typical white rice polishing yield of 90 - 92%, the Fr value was 0.43 - 0.46. When the obtained white rice sample was washed, Fr decreased further to 0.27. Additional removal of radiocaesium is not expected by cooking (usually boiling) the rice, because the cooking temperature is not high enough to evaporate Cs. In rice bran samples, radiocaesium had the highest concentration in the middle layer;but in the same samples, the rice germ content was also high. Possibly because the radiocaesium concentration in the germ could be higher than that in the bran, apparent radiocaesium concentration in the middle layer was high.

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© 2012 by Japan Radioisotope Association
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