Health officials keep finding radioactive mushrooms and berries 37 years after Chernobyl

April 26, BPN. Health officials in the Homiel and Brest regions continue to detect radioactive food 37 years after the Chernobyl disaster.

According to the Brest regional public health center, 39 mushroom samples and 11 wild berry samples were found to have elevated levels of caesium-137, a radioactive isotope. The center tested more than 5,000 food samples in 2022.

A similar center in the Homiel region examined 167 samples in February 2023. Foodstuffs from the public sector had caesium-137 within the norm. But every eighth sample from the private sector was too radioactive.

Health officials advised citizens, especially in these two regions, to submit foodstuffs for radiation checks, ask vendors for safety certificates, and not buy mushrooms and berries from unauthorized stands.