The radioactivity parameters in the food chain - legislation, control and critical points

Radioactivity, whether natural or artificial, today constitutes a significant segment in the process of protecting human and animal health. Natural radioactivity is an integral part of our ecological system, so it has long been present in the food we eat. However, intensive industrial processes in some areas have disturbed the natural ecological balance and thus introduced into the environment natural radionuclides in quantities that can affect the quality of human life and the state of the environment. On the other hand, artificial radionuclides reach the environment only in the case of accident situations in nuclear facilities. In the nuclear era so far, two accidents, Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011, affected the environment globally with the significant impact. Consequently, a system of monitoring radioactivity in the environment was introduced, which includes foodstuffs as well as animal feed. The paper describes the sources of radioactive contamination and the most critical raw materials and products in the human and animal food chain, as well as a critical review of current legislation.