A batch of mushrooms from Belarus with traces of radioactive cesium-137 was detained in France. This is reported by Reuters with reference to the Institute for Nuclear Safety IRSN. It is noted that although the mushrooms did not pose a threat to consumers, a cargo weighing 3.5 tons was decided to be destroyed at a special incineration plant.
The IRSN said that a person who consumed a dozen kilograms of Belarusian mushrooms would receive the same effect as a natural radiation background during the year.
In mid-September, French media reported that cesium-137 was found in mushrooms collected in France itself. Then specialists associated the increased content of the radioactive isotope cesium-137 with the consequences of the Chernobyl accident and above-ground nuclear tests in 1950-1960. They also noted that cesium-137 in trace amounts is always found in mushrooms after global precipitation.