Heavy Metal Index
Ask the IndexAboutIndex Pro

Integrated chemical and radiological risk assessment of livestock products from the Abai region adjacent to the former Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site, Kazakhstan

Cite this pageVersion history

Overview

Amirgalina and colleagues evaluated chemical contaminants (lead, cadmium, copper, zinc) and radiological risk (caesium-137, strontium-90) in livestock products from three administrative districts of the Abai region of Kazakhstan adjacent to the former Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (SNTS). A total of 450 samples (beef, horse meat, mutton, poultry, and whole cow’s milk) were collected from the Abai, Ayagoz, and Aksuat districts. Lead concentrations in whole cow’s milk exceeded the applicable regulatory limit in all three districts, representing the most significant food-safety finding. All other analytes remained within permissible levels. Despite district-level inter-exceedances, all calculated non-carcinogenic and radiological risk indicators remained below internationally accepted threshold values for adults under the assumed consumption scenario. The study used both Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) and Hazard Index (HI) for non-carcinogenic risk assessment, and Annual Effective Dose (AED) and Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk (ELCR) for radiological risk.

Key numbers

  • Sample set: 450 total samples (90 per food category: beef, horse meat, mutton, poultry, whole cow’s milk); 30 samples per product per district (Abai, Ayagoz, Aksuat). Collected April-June 2024.
  • Analytical method: Lead, cadmium, copper, and zinc by voltammetric stripping analysis (anodic stripping voltammetry, ASV) using an AVT-07A/4K analyser (Metrological Certification No. RK.E.31.2008-01733). Values certified according to GOST 31,2008.
  • LOD (mg/kg): lead 0.002, cadmium 0.005. LOQ (mg/kg): lead 0.005, cadmium (not stated separately; lower limit of measurement range 0.0020 mg/kg for lead (Pb) per source text).
  • Oral reference doses (mg/kg body weight/day): lead 0.0035, cadmium 0.001, copper 0.04, zinc 0.30 (p. 4 of source).
  • Key food-safety finding: lead concentrations in whole cow’s milk exceeded the applicable regulatory limit in all three districts. District-specific milk Pb values and comparisons not fully detailed in the five pages reviewed; specific numeric exceedance values not tabulated in the accessible pages.
  • Caesium-137 (137Cs) activity in meat products (Bq/kg): Abai district: beef 18.16 +/- 1.02, horse meat 15.33 +/- 0.81, mutton 17.34 +/- 0.93, poultry 12.01 +/- 0.42. Ayagoz: beef 12.07 +/- 0.38, horse meat 10.95 +/- 0.37, mutton 9.41 +/- 0.21, poultry 6.54 +/- 0.19. Aksuat: beef 5.54 +/- 0.17, horse meat 4.88 +/- 0.23, mutton 4.44 +/- 0.38, poultry 3.61 +/- 0.11. Highest values in Abai district, lowest in Aksuat. Reference limit 200 Bq/kg for meat.
  • Strontium-90 (90Sr) activity in meat (Bq/kg): all values below LOD for poultry in multiple districts. Abai milk: 137Cs 11.66 +/- 0.21 Bq/L, 90Sr 2.20 +/- 0.09 Bq/L (highest observed).
  • Annual Effective Dose (AED) from meat and milk: total AED from meat consumption (137Cs contribution): ranged 0.0033 to 0.0165 mSv/year. The 90Sr AED ranged 0 to 0.00184 mSv/year. All milk AED values substantially below the reference level of 1 mSv/year. All poultry milk sample 90Sr activity below LOD.
  • ELCR: not separately detailed in the pages reviewed.
  • All calculated non-carcinogenic and radiological risk indicators below internationally accepted thresholds for adults under assumed consumption scenario (food ingestion rates: meat 200 mg/mL and milk 1540 mg/mL per day per Kazakhstan reference standards; body weight 70 kg adults).

Methods (brief)

Sampling was purposive rather than random, targeting specific farms and territorial zones in the three districts. 30 samples per product per district collected from local farms (not markets). Chemical analysis by ASV voltammetry using an AVT-07A/4K analyser validated per Kazakhstani metrological standards. 137Cs was measured by gamma spectrometry (ATGamma-120 analyser, ATOMTEX, Minsk, Belarus), and 90Sr by radiochemical beta counting (TRI-CARB 2200R scintillation counter). Sample preparation: 20-30 g homogenised product; purification by precipitation with hydroxide Fe(OH)3 at pH 8-10, 14-18 days radioequilibrium period before measurement for 90Sr. Measurement uncertainty ranged from 15% to 25% (stated in source). Statistical analysis by IBM SPSS Statistics version 26; inter-district differences assessed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test.

Implications

  • Certification (HMTc): Lead exceedances in whole cow’s milk from all three districts near the SNTS are the primary food-safety signal from this study. These reflect a historically contaminated environment and should not be treated as representative of Kazakhstan market milk or global milk baselines for HMTc pooling. The radiological findings are outside HMTc scope (which covers chemical heavy metals, not radionuclides).
  • Courses: Useful demonstration of the One Health framework applied to a historically contaminated region, integrating chemical and radiological risk assessment from multiple livestock product categories. Illustrates how non-carcinogenic chemical risk can remain below thresholds even when individual analyte concentrations exceed regulatory limits.
  • App: Contamination data from this study reflect the specific post-nuclear-test-site environment of the Abai region of Kazakhstan and are not suitable for general market-level contamination profile baselines.
  • Microbiome: No microbiome data.

Update history

No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.

Referenced by