Forensic Radiometric Assessment of Cattle Organs and Chicken Giblets and Estimation of their Radiological Health Risk on Man

Abstract

The activity concentrations of natural radionuclides in twelve organs of cows and six chicken giblets samples from different locations of Delta region of Nigeria were studied using a 7.6 cm x 7.6 cm Na (TI) detector. Average activity concentrations of 727.09, 86.57 and 16.58 Bqkg–1 in cattle organs and 309.45, 57.71 and 9.02 Bqkg–1 in chicken parts were obtained for 40K, 226Ra and 232Th respectively. The highest activity concentration of 226Ra and 232Th in cattle was obtained in the rumen and heart respectively, while in chicken both were gotten in the gizzard. Radiological risk parameters of internal hazard index, absorb dose rate, annual effective dose, total annual effective ingestion dose and lifetime cancer risk resulting from consumption of cattle organs and chicken giblets were estimated for adult population based on the available data on consumption rate of samples. The mean values obtained are 0.68, 79.44 \(\eta Gy {h}^{-1}\), 48.71 µSvy–1, 107.50 µSvy–1 and 376.25\(x{10}^{-6}\) for cattle organs and are 0.41, 43.87 \(\eta Gy {h}^{-1}\), 26.90 µSvy–1, 57.98µSvy–1 and 202.93\(x{10}^{-6}\)for chicken giblets respectively. While the mean absorbed dose rate was slightly higher than world average, all other four radiological risk parameters values are below and within the recommended world permissible level for the adults. These results shows that there is no considerable radiological threat to public health from the consumption of cattle organs and chicken giblets in the Delta region of Nigeria. Thus, the cattle organs and chicken parts examined are radiologically safe for consumption.