Commission Recommendation of 20 February 2003 on the protection and information of the public with regard to exposure resulting from the continued radioactive caesium contamination of certain wild food products as a consequence of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station (notified under document number C(2003) 510)
Date: 2003-02-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: USSR, consumer information, consumer protection, foodstuff, nuclear accident, public health, radioactive pollution, wildlife

21.2.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 47/53

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION

of 20 February 2003

on the protection and information of the public with regard to exposure resulting from the
continued radioactive caesium contamination of certain wild food products as a consequence of
the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station

(notified under document number C(2003) 510)

(2003/120/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(6)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic
Energy Community, and in particular Article 38(1), and the
second indent of Article 124 thereof,

Having regard to the opinion of
the Group of Experts
appointed by the Scientific and Technical Committee pursuant
to Article 31 of the Treaty,

Whereas:

Following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power
station on 26 April 1986, considerable quantities of
radioactive materials were released into the atmosphere.

The fallout of radioactive caesium from the accident at
the Chernobyl nuclear power station has affected a wide
range of third countries.

Significant fallout has affected certain parts of the terri-
tories of a number of Member States and countries
applying for accession to the European Union.

Council Regulation (EEC) No 737/90 of 22 March 1990
on the conditions governing imports of agricultural
products originating in third countries following the
accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power-station (1), as
last amended by Regulation (EC) No 616/2000 (2), fixed
for agricultural products in third countries intended for
human consumption, maximum permitted levels of
radioactive caesium with which imports must comply
and in connection with which checks are carried out by
Member States.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1661/1999 of 27 July
1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of
Council Regulation (EEC) No 737/90 on the conditions
governing imports of agricultural products originating in
third countries following the accident at the Chernobyl
nuclear power-station (4), as last amended by Regulation
(EC) No 1608/2002 (5), has, inter alia, introduced specific
conditions strengthening the controls on the imports of
non-cultivated mushrooms from a number of
third
countries.

(7)

(8)

(9)

Member States have applied and still apply when neces-
sary, similar checks and conditions for the placing on
the market of foodstuffs emanating from their national
agro-industrial
food supply chains in particular with
regard to meat from sheep and reindeer.

The measures in situ in the territories of the Member
States flow from existing legal obligations set out in
Council Directive 96/29/Euratom of 13 May 1996
laying down basic safety standards for the protection of
the health of the workers and the general public against
the dangers arising from ionising radiation (6) and in
Articles 35 and 36 of the Euratom Treaty.

Natural and semi-natural ecosystems such as forests and
wooded areas generally are the natural habitat of wild
game, berries and mushrooms and such ecosystems tend
to retain radioactive caesium in a cyclic exchange
between upper soil layers (litter), bacteria, microfauna,
microflora and vegetation. In addition, the soil of such
ecosystems which consists for the most part of organic
matter tends to increase the biological availability of
radioactive caesium.

In a statement to the Council, on 12 May 1986 in
connection to the adoption of Council Regulation (EEC)
No 1707/86 of 30 May 1986 on the conditions
governing imports of agricultural products originating in
third countries following the accident at the Chernobyl
nuclear power-station (3), Member States committed
themselves to apply the same maximum permitted levels
to trade within the Community.

(10)

The forest plants likely to be consumed by man are the
edible fruit species, in particular wild berries like bilber-
ries, cloudberries, cranberries, raspberries, blackberries
and wild strawberries. Radioactive caesium contamina-
tion trends in wild berries show that contamination has
decreased slowly or remained stable in particular in
perennial species, since the Chernobyl accident.

(1) OJ L 82, 29.3.1990, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 75, 24.3.2000, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 146, 31.5.1986, p. 88.

(4) OJ L 197, 29.7.1999, p. 17.
(5) OJ L 243, 11.9.2002, p. 7.
(6) OJ L 159, 29.6.1996, p. 1.

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(11) Many species of edible wild mushrooms (chanterelles,
bay boletus, hedgehogs and other well-known edible
mushrooms), due to the impact of the nature of forest
soils on the availability of radioactive caesium, continue
to develop levels of radioactive caesium exceeding 600
Bq/kg. Mushrooms of the mycorrhizal species living in
symbiosis with trees and having a deep-growing myce-
lium (Boletus edulis, for example) were affected much
later by the fallout and today present very high levels of
radioactive caesium contamination.

(18)

Recent data indicate that radioactive caesium concentra-
tions remain high in carnivorous freshwater fish from
lakes in areas with the highest deposition, with peak
values exceeding 10 000 Bq/kg in pike and 5 000 Bq/kg
in perch.

(19)

The placing on the market of edible wild products does
not necessarily proceed through the agro-industrial food
the national statutory monitoring and
supply chains,
checks could therefore be bypassed.

(12)

(13)

(14)

(15)

(16)

(17)

Radioactive caesium contamination also affects animal
species such as wild game and carnivorous freshwater
fish from lakes in areas with the highest deposition. In
particular, the presence of highly contaminated species
in the diet
(lichen, mosses, and in particular certain
species of mushrooms) clearly contributes to increasing
the contamination of the wild game consuming them.

(20) Member States have informed the population of

the
health risk resulting from consumption of certain food
categories in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident,
public awareness of the continued contamination of wild
food products tends to decline.

It is assumed that the duration of radioactive caesium
contamination following the Chernobyl accident of a
number of products originating from species living and
growing in forests and other natural and semi-natural
ecosystems essentially relates to the physical half-life of
that radionuclide which is some 30 years and that there-
fore no appreciable change as regards the radioactive
caesium contamination of
these products will be
observed in the next decades.

In recent years, data provided by some Member States to
the Commission has shown that high levels of radioac-
tive caesium could be found in wild game, berries,
mushrooms and carnivorous lake fish.

(21) Although the implication of the contamination of wild
products for the health of the general public is very low,
the health risk to persons who consume large quantities
of
from affected regions cannot be
neglected, and it is therefore necessary to strengthen the
public awareness of those dangers.

such products

(22)

Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parlia-
ment and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying
down the general principles and requirements of food
law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority
and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (1)
has set up a system for the rapid exchange of informa-
tion. It is necessary to use that system for exchanging
information between the Member States on recorded
cases of exceedance of the maximum permitted levels,

The incidence of wild game meat exceeding 600 Bq/kg
of radioactive caesium is slowly decreasing except for
wild boar, non-negligible quantities of wild game meat
originated in certain parts of the territories of a number
of Member States and applicant countries continue to
exceed the above limits.

HEREBY RECOMMENDS:

In certain regions of the Federal Republic of Germany
the radioactive caesium levels in meat of wild boar can
be ten or more times higher than levels in roe deer or
red deer. For example, the incidence of cases of wild
boar exceeding 600 Bq/kg of radioactive caesium has
been constantly rising since 1996 and was about 51 %
in 1999 with peak values exceeding 10 000 Bq/kg.

1. For the purpose of protecting the health of the consumer,
Member States should take appropriate steps to ensure that
the maximum permitted levels in terms of caesium-134 and
137 referred to in Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No 737/90
are respected in the Community for the placing on the
market of wild game, wild berries, wild mushrooms and
carnivorous lake fish.

It can be assumed that parts of
the territories of a
number of other Member States and applicant countries,
presenting similar levels of radioactive caesium deposi-
tion would have contamination levels in meat from wild
game and in particular in wild boar comparable to those
in the Federal Republic of Germany.

2. Member States should inform the population,

in regions
where there is a potential for such products to exceed the
maximum permitted levels, of the health risk involved.

(1) OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1.

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3. Member States should inform the Commission and each other of recorded cases of such products placed
on the Community market exceeding the maximum permitted levels through the Community Rapid
Alert System laid down in Regulation 2002/178/EC.

4. Member States should inform the Commission and the other Member States of the action taken in

response to this recommendation.

Done at Brussels, 20 February 2003.

For the Commission

Margot WALLSTRÖM

Member of the Commission