Decades after the Chernobyl disaster, some mushrooms in Bavaria are still contaminated with radioactive cesium. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) pointed this out on Monday in Salzgitter after the publication of the new mushroom report. The mushrooms are said to be contaminated primarily with cesium-137 isotopes, which mainly come from the Chernobyl reactor accident in April 1986.
According to the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), cesium-137 can accumulate in bone tissue and damage the genetic material there. In the long term, this can lead to bone cancer and leukemia.
Every year, the BfS examines wild-growing edible mushrooms at eight locations in Bavaria for contamination with the isotope. Accordingly, the Bavarian Forest, Mittenwald on the border with Austria and the Donaumoos southwest of Ingolstadt are particularly affected. According to the Federal Office, more than 4000 becquerels of cesium-137 per kilogram of mushrooms were measured in some cases. The limit for mushrooms in the trade is 600 becquerels.
“As a rule of thumb, ingestion of 80,000 becquerels of cesium-137 from food in adults results in radiation exposure of about 1 millisievert,” the report says. For comparison: The average radiation exposure from natural sources in Germany is 2.1 millisieverts per year.
The radiation exposure is comparatively low if wild-growing edible mushrooms are consumed in normal quantities. Nevertheless, BfS President Inge Paulini advises only consuming mushrooms collected in Bavaria in moderation “to avoid unnecessary exposure to radiation”.
According to the Federal Office, bun stubble mushrooms, red-brown bun stubble mushrooms, chestnut boletuses and trumpet chanterelles are particularly contaminated. Bleeding forest mushrooms, saffron giant mushrooms, brown-scaled giant mushrooms and star-scaled giant umbrella mushrooms are rather harmless. Cultivated mushrooms such as button mushrooms and oyster mushrooms are also hardly affected.