An Assessment of Radiological Hazard Levels in Vegetables and Condiments Obtained from Ile-Ife Main Market, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

This study evaluated the radiological hazard levels of the naturally occurring radionuclides in samples of commonly consumed vegetable and condiment samples collected from Ile-Ife main market. Gamma Ray Spectrometer was used to profile 238U, 232Th, and 40K levels in the samples. Activity Concentrations, Radium equivalent activity concentration index (Raeq), Absorbed Gamma Dose Rate (DR), External Hazard Index (Hex), Internal Hazard Index (Hin), Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk (ELCR) and Annual Effective Dose Equivalent (AEDE) were subsequently evaluated. In the vegetables, the range for the activity concentrations were 78.93 to 118.18 Bq/kg for 40K, 44.04 to 62.87 Bq/kg for 238U, while for 232Th, the range was 4.45 to 6.92 Bq/kg. In condiment samples, 40K ranged between 59.68 and 72.83 Bq/kg, 238U had a range of 33.33 to 40.91 Bq/kg, while 232Th was found within the range 3.42 to 4.26 Bq/kg. Although the ELCR calculated indicated higher values of 100 to 200 folds compared to acceptable value of 2.9 x 10-3 stipulated by UNSCEAR the values of DR, Raeq, Hex and Hin were significantly lower (P ≤ 0.05) than or matched well with the permissible values indicating consumption safety for those who do not rely heavily on the consumption of the items investigated.