Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to buildup baseline data for Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 levels in different food samples and computes their cancer risk (CR). Design/methodology/approach This report has been performed to buildup baseline data for Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 levels in different food samples and computes their CR. Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 activity levels were measured using ?-ray spectrometry based on high-purity germanium (HPGe). Findings The findings exhibited that the annual effective dose (AED) and CR due to Ra-226 ingestion in foodstuff samples have shown the trends cereal > vegetable > meat > fruits > sesame. Meanwhile, (AED) and (CR) due to K-40 displayed the trends vegetable > cereal > meat > fruits > sesame. Although the average value of radiological dose due to ingestion of some radionuclides slightly exceed the values of some foodstuff around the world. However, the overall average of (AED) for all foodstuff samples (226.6 mu Sv/y) was found to be far below the world average (AED) (300 mu Sv/y). Practical implications The main contributor to the AED was K-40 85, Ra-226 9 and Th-232 6%. The computed magnitude values for CR owing to Ra-226, Th-232, K-40 (1.3 x 10(-5)) lower than International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) CR of (2.5 x 10(-3)) for the general public. Originality/value The main contributor to the AED was K-40 85 %, Ra-226 9% and Th-232 6%. The computed magnitude values for CR owing to Ra-226, Th-232, K-40 (1.3 x 10(-5)) lower than ICRP CR of (2.5 x 10(-3)) for the general public.