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Miro is a trained truffle dog that belongs to Simon Egli, a co-author of the Biogeosciences paper based at Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL. He’s pictured here with a Burgundy truffle he found in Switzerland. Credit: Simon Egli, WSL

by European Geosciences Union
EurekAlert
Published 25 Feb 2016

Some forest mushrooms, such as wild porcini, can accumulate dangerous levels of radioactivity from the soils they grow in. But until now it was unclear if the same was true for truffles, fungi that range among the most expensive foods in the world. Swiss and German researchers have analysed Burgundy truffles collected in central Europe and found they contain only negligible amounts of radioactive caesium, being safe for consumption. The results are published today (25 February) in Biogeosciences, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

Continue reading Screening truffles for radioactivity 30 years from Chernobyl →

By Jay T. Cullen

@JayTCullen

The purpose of this diary is to report results from a recently published, peer reviewed study (behind paywall) examining the degree of Fukushima contamination in fungi and soil of western North America. The diary is the most recent contribution to an ongoing series which aims to provide evidence from scientific studies assessing the impact of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster on the environment and the health of residents of North America. Trappe and colleagues measured the activity of cesium isotopes (134-Cs half life ~ 2 years; 137-Cs half life ~30 years) in wild mushrooms, soil and leaf litter of the west coast from California up to Vancouver Island. The conclusions of the study were as follows:

No activity measurements exceeded levels thought to impact human health
137-Cs activity increased in fungi and soil towards the north
134-Cs increased to the south in leaf litter
Chanterelles did not significantly bioconcentrate Cs isotopes
137-Cs and 134-Cs activities were highly variable from sample to sample
137-Cs levels largely reflected non-Fukushima sources from either atmospheric weapons tests in the last century or the Chernobyl disaster in 1986

Continue reading Looking For Fukushima Contamination in Mushrooms and Soil of Western North America →