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Certified reference materials of agricultural products and foods bearing radioactivity from the Fukushima nuclear accident

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Abstract

Certified reference materials (CRMs) for food analysis were developed in an inter-laboratory experiment for validation of measurement of radiocesium in foodstuffs. Since 2012, five series of CRMs were developed, including for brown rice grain, soybean powder, beef flake, shiitake mushroom powder and marine fish (meat and bone parts). This paper discusses the strategy of development, including choice of CRMs developed and the preparation and certification procedures applied for CRM development. In particular, some detailed data are presented for the most popular CRMs developed: brown rice grain, soybean powder and beef flake.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partly supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) through the “Development of Systems and Technology for advanced Measurement and Analysis” program. The authors thank Dr. K. Chiba, Dr. A. Okada, Dr. T. Yamada, Dr. K. Kitamura, Prof. T. Sanada and Dr. T. Maeyama for their valuable suggestions and comments on development of the CRMs. We are grateful to the laboratories participating in the inter-laboratory experiments for reference material certification. The participating organizations are Tokyo City University, Atomic Energy Research Laboratory at Tokyo City University, Meiji University, Radioisotope Center at the University of Tokyo, Radiation Science Center at High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Japan Chemical Analysis Center, Japan Radioisotope Association, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Metrology Institute of Japan, Advanced Science Research Center at Japan Atomic Energy Agency, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, General Environmental Technos Co. Ltd., NS Environmental Science Consultant Co., R&D Center of Nippon Meat Packers Inc. and Japan Food Research Laboratories.

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Correspondence to Y. Minai.

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Certified reference materials of agricultural products and foods bearing radioactivity from the Fukushima nuclear accident.

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Minai, Y., Miura, T., Yonezawa, C. et al. Certified reference materials of agricultural products and foods bearing radioactivity from the Fukushima nuclear accident. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 307, 2421–2426 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4445-2

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