Development of Seafood Radioactivity Inspection Device

Ensuring food safety is essential for the protection of the public; hence, the Republic of Korea has established standards for the management of radioactive materials in food. In Korea, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Notict No. 2023-13 specifies regulatory criteria for radioactive materials in seafood, the maximum level having been set at 100 Bq/kg for ¹³⁴Cs + ¹³⁷Cs and mI, respectively. Radioactivity inspection currently being conducted in Korea has limitations, such as tht inability to preserve the original form of seafood and the significant time required for pretreatment and radiation measurement To overcome these limitations, we designed, using Monte Carle simulations, a seafood radioactivity inspection device based on polyvinyl toluene (PVT) plastic scintillators for fast screening The minimum detectable activity (MDA) for ¹³⁷Cs and ¹³¹ in three types of seafood (i.e., dried laver seaweed, raw oyster, and fishcake) was calculated to estimate the performance of the developing inspection device. It was found that the inspection system could provide good performance in determining compliance with regulatory standards on a near-real-time basis. The reliability ol simulation models was verified by conducting experiments with actual seafood and background-radiation measurements. Tht seafood radioactivity inspection device developed in the presenl study is expected to significantly contribute to ongoing efforts tc ensure seafood safety.