## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Radioactivity Analysis  
The 40K and 137 Cs specific activity for the analyzed bovine meat samples is reported in Table 2 for each site ID, together with the mean value. Its uncertainty (for each ID) is the standard deviation.  
As can be noted, the mean 40K activity concentration is (79.4 \(\pm\) 8.1) Bq kg\({}^{-1}\), (78.9 \(\pm\) 10.5) Bq kg\({}^{-1}\) and (88.2 \(\pm\) 12.5) Bq kg\({}^{-1}\) for the sites ID1, ID2 and ID3, respectively. As expected, the maximum variation range of potassium is limited (11.08%), since it is an essential nutrient, and so its value does not exhibit a high variance for the same specimen type.  
Further, as far as any possible anthropogenic contamination of investigated bovine meat samples is a concern, the 137 Cs specific activity was also quantified. Generally, different possible factors affecting the level of 137 Cs in the analyzed samples can be distinguished: (i) the amount of the radioactive fallout, (ii) the climatic conditions and (iii) the radionuclide's bioavailability. From the results (see Table 2), the 137 Cs specific activity was found to be lower than the minimum detectable activity (MDA) in all cases, demonstrating the  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \begin{tabular}{c} **Sampling** \\ **Point** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **40K** \\ **(Bq kg\({}^{-1}\))** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **137 Cs** \\ **(Bq kg\({}^{-1}\))** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Sampling** \\ **Point** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **K-40** \\ **(Bq kg\({}^{-1}\))** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Sampling** \\ **(Bq kg\({}^{-1}\))** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Sampling** \\ **Point** \\ \end{tabular} & \
\begin{tabular}{c} **K-40** \\ **(Bq kg\({}^{-1}\))** \\ \end{tabular} &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Cs-137** \\ **(Bq kg\({}^{-1}\))** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{ID1} & 86.5 \(\pm\) 6.8 & \textless{}0.12 & 71.9 \(\pm\) 5.9 & \textless{}0.13 & 83.2 \(\pm\) 11.5 & \textless{}0.09 \\ \cline{2-8}  & 73.4 \(\pm\) 5.7 & \textless{}0.08 & 83.1 \(\pm\) 11.1 & \textless{}0.09 & 84.5 \(\pm  
lack of residual contamination by antrophic radioactivity. It is worth noting, however, that different areas within the same country can be affected by different levels of radioactive pollution [44]. In this sense, an evaluation of the \({}^{137}\)Cs content in the soil appears to be crucial from the perspective of ecology, which will be the subject of a future investigation.  
Of note, all the obtained experimental data are in a good agreement with those reported in the database of the \"Italian Institute for the Environmental Protection and Research\" (ISPRA) [45], since they are of the same order of magnitude and also very similar. It should be also observed that the \({}^{40}\)K activity concentration, measured for each sample, account for the amount of radioactivity and not the radiological health risk to human beings, for which additional factors need to be considered.  
Finally, Table 3 reports a comparison of the values of \({}^{40}\)K activity concentration in bovine meat samples of various countries [46; 47; 48; 49], including the results of the present study, revealing some differences. This may be explained by the physical properties of soil according to the geographical location, the characteristics of the growing grass, climatic condition during the growth of the grass, the race of grazing animals and their spending time on the pasture for grazing.