Corn, wheat and other different types of cereal crops, are one of the basic nutritional products in general, which have essential and vast application in the daily diet of people around the world. ...Cereal crops are the most important food sources, and cereal-based food is the main source of energy, protein, B vitamins and minerals for the world population. Therefore, the goal of this research is to analyze the production of wheat on arable land in the Republic of North Macedonia, as an agricultural country, which will indirectly help to draw conclusions about the impact on the economic structure of the population, their standard of living, the investment and economic fluctuations in market prices, taken as a sui generis element, set as an assumption ceteris paribus against the other determinants and factors that affect the national economy in the Republic of North Macedonia.
Wheat is one of the world’s most commonly consumed cereal grains. It originates from a type of grass (Triticum) that is grown in countless varieties worldwide. Bread wheat or common wheat is a ...primary species. Several other closely related species include durum, spelt, emmer, einkorn, and Khorasan wheat. In addition to being a major source of starch and energy, wheat also provides substantial amounts of a number of components which are essential or beneficial for health, notably proteins, vitamins (notably B vitamins), dietary fibres, and phytochemicals. Wheat is a basic food product of Macedonian population. This study is mainly focused on measuring the concentration of radioactivity due to natural radioactive nuclides (226Ra, 232Th, 40K) in wheat grain samples, as well as on determining the quality of wheat used in daily diet. In addition, in this study we calculated radiation hazard indices (radium equivalent activity and internal hazard index) in the wheat sample. Average activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in the wheat samples were 0.57±0.14; 0.39±0.11; 96.55±0.86 (Bq·kg-1), respectively. The radiation hazard indices were calculated for all samples in this study where mean values did not exceed safety limits, pointing out to negligible radiation hazard arising from terrestrial radionuclides that are naturally present in wheat. In terms of quality, we confirmed that all tested samples meet the requirements regarding quality in accordance with the laws in our country.
Screening and confirmatory methods for Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) analysis were optimized and studied regarding the European Decision 2002/657/EC requirements. The recoveries of AFM1 from the spiked samples ...at levels between 0.025 and 0.075 µg kg-1 were 99.6-110.3 % with obtained precision 10.5-13.4 %, confirming the immunochemical method precision and reliability for intensive surveillance studies. According to the regulatory requirements, for confirmation of the obtained positives from the screening, the reference high-performance liquid chromatographic method was evaluated in reference to the performance criteria. The obtained between-day recovery was in the range 67.2-72.8 %, and the precision range 5.4-9.1 %. 205 positives from the screening were subjected to confirmatory analysis. The comparison of the data obtained from the immunoassay and chromatographic method (R2=0.764) revealed a slight overestimation of the screening method, but no cases of false-negative determinations occurred.
Taking into consideration the importance of the distribution and transfer of radio nuclides in soil, an attempt was made in this work to determine the concentration of 226Ra, 232Th 40К and 137Cs in ...the same. The concentrations of activity in the gamma-absorbed dose rates of the terrestrial naturally occurring radio nuclides, as follows, 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were determined in samples of soil collected from some parts of Republic of Macedonia, i.e. from three major cities in the Republic of Macedonia. The samples are taken by means of a special dosage dispenser which enables sampling of samples at a depth of 0-5 cm, 5-10cm and 10-15cm, thus disabling the sampling above these layers of soil. An identification of radio nuclides and assessment of their activity has been performed by applying gamma spectrometry. The time of counting for each sample was 65000 s. in order to obtain statistically small mistake. The spectrums were analyzed by a commercially available software GENIE-2000 received from Canberra, Austria. The activity of soil had wide range of values: 20.3 to 82.9 Bq kg-1for 226Ra, 16.1 to 82.5 Bq kg-1 for 232Th, 325 to 799.0 Bq kg-1for 40К and 9.1 to 24.3 Bq kg-1for 137Cs, respectively. The concentrations of these radio nuclides have been compared with the available data from the other countries. Natural environmental radioactivity and the associated external exposure due to gamma radiation depend primarily on the geological and geographical conditions. Namely, the specific levels of terrestrial environmental radiation are related to the type of rocks from which the soils originate. The obtained data indicate that the average value of activity of 232Th is about higher than the one of 226Ra The concentration of activity of 40К in the soil has greater value than 32Th and 226Ra in all soils. The causes for the existence of 137Cs in these soils are the nuclear explosions, waste radioactive materials and other incidents. It reaches the surface of the pedosphere by means of dry and wet flushing and depending on the physical and the chemical properties of the soil, as well as depending on the eventually applied agrotechnical and agrochemical measures, it connects, that is, it penetrates in the deeper soil layers.
The care of radioactivity level in animal feed is very important, as ingestion is one of the most common ways radionuclides enter living organisms. Thus, since humans consume products of animal ...origin (eggs and poultry, milk and beef), it is important to monitor radiation levels in animal feed, as part of the radioactivity that these animals are exposed to, could be transmitted to humans. Natural radionuclides such as 40K, 232Th and 226Ra find their way into the food chain from soil and air to plants and from plants to animals and humans as well. The goal of this study was to determine the activity concentrations of natural radionuclides in three commercial chicken feeds – starter, grower and finisher. The analyzes were performed by means of HPGe gamma spectrometry - gamma spectrometer (Canberra Packard) with a high-purity germanium detector. The obtained spectra from the measurement were analyzed by using the program GENIE 2000. Based on the performed tests, the mean values for the activity concentrations in the samples were the following 26.03±4.1 Bq kg-1 for 226Ra, 37.9±4.8 Bq kg-1 for 232Th, and 64.40±6.5 Bq kg-1 for 40K. The results obtained from the analyses of chicken feeds were compared to studies in other countries and it was found that 40K was present in the highest amount in all types of samples while the vales for the other natural radionuclides were within the nominal concentrations. Higher concentration of 40K can be associated with plants used in the production of animal feed, which were contaminated with fertilizer during their cultivation. The range of radionuclide concentrations in the samples was within the recommended values UNSCEAR.
Praćenje razine radioaktivnosti u hrani za životinje od izrazite je važnosti, budući da je oralna konzumacija jedan od najčešćih načina unosa radionuklida u živuće organizme. S obzirom na ljudsku konzumaciju proizvoda životinjskog porijekla (jaja, perad, mlijeko i govedina), važno je pratiti razine radijacije u hrani za životinje budući da dio ukupne radioaktivnosti kojoj su životinje izložene može prijeći na ljude. Prirodni radionuklidi poput 40K, 232Th i 226Ra ulaze u hranidbeni lanac iz zemlje i zraka u biljke te u životinje i ljude. Cilj ovog istraživanja je odrediti aktivne koncentracije prirodnih radionuklida u tri komercijalne vrste hrane za piliće – starteru, groweru i finišeru. Analize su provedene uporabom gama spektrometra visoke rezolucije, odnosno gama spektrometrom (Canberra Packard) s germanijskim detektorom visoke čistoće. Dobiveni mjerni raspon analiziran je uporabom programa GENIE 2000. Temeljem izvedenih ispitivanja uzoraka, prosječne vrijednosti aktivnih koncentracija su 26.04±4.1 Bq kg-1 za radionuklid 226Ra, 37.9±4.8 Bq kg-1 za radionuklid 232Th i 64.40±6.5 Bq kg-1 za radionuklid 40K. Rezultati navedenih analiza hrane za piliće uspoređeni su s istraživanjima provedenim u drugim državama, a zaključak istog je da je radionuklid 40K prisutan u najvišim količinama u svim vrstama analiziranih uzoraka dok su zabilježene normalne koncentracije ostalih prirodnih radionuklida. Više koncentracije radionuklida 40K mogu se povezati s biljkama upotrjebljenima u proizvodnji hrane za životinje, a koje su prethodno bile kontaminirane gnojivima tijekom kultivacije. Utvrđeno je da je raspon koncentracija radionuklida u analiziranim uzorcima unutar vrijednosti koje preporuča UNSCEAR.
The goal of this study was focused on determination of the specific activity of 137Cs in the samples of cultivated and uncultivated soil, as well as comparison with specific countries. The samples ...were taken from 14 locations in the surrounding of the city of Skopje. The spectral analysis of the radionuclides of these samples was conducted by applying a a-ray spectrometer with high purity germanium (HPGe) detector with 30% relative efficiency. The data show that the specific activities of this radionuclide vary within a range of 6,04 Bq/kg (measured in Dracevo at a depth of 15 cm) to a maximal value of 21,87 Bq/kg (measured in Radisani at a depth of 5 cm) for cultivated land. The specific activities of this radionuclide vary within a range of 5,01 Bq/kg (measured in Radisani at a depth of 10-15 cm) to a maximal value of 19,05 Bq/kg (measured in Bardovci at a depth of 0-5 cm) for non-cultivated land.
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