Safe doses
How much radioactivity can we take?
The FSA previously set its maximum level of radiocaesium for food imported from Japan at 100 becquerels per kilogram. But it has decided that the limit can be removed without harming people.
The harm from consumed radioactivity is estimated in terms of the dose, measured in millisieverts (msv).
The dose is a combination of the amount of radioactivity in a person’s diet, and a factor that depends on the radionuclide present (such as radiocaesium) and the age of the person. A higher dose represents an increased risk of cancer.
The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends that people should consume no more than 20msv per year. The FSA estimates that the dose to UK consumers would be no more than 0.016msv per year as a result of consuming food from Japan. Individuals receive an average radiation dose of 2.7msv a year from all sources.