**Acknowledgements**

No dose estimation was possible for 90Sr. There were not sufficient 90Sr data available for most of the food categories. Most Swiss agencies believe that 90Sr activity was low in the fallout from

The Federal Office of Public Health estimated the dose commitment for the Swiss population to be 0.2 mSv/year in 1986. The estimation was based on the results of the food categories milk, vegetables, and meat only. Other food categories were not taken into account (e.g., cereals or 90Sr data of milk). According to the estimated dose from radioiodine in milk, they estimated that, for children, 75 new cases of thyroid cancer with seven or eight fatal cases would occur. For adults, there was no risk seen [91]. The genetically based radiation risk, which causes genetically anomalies, was estimated at 2 to 22 new cases between 1986 and 2086 [92]. The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (former HSK) published a more profound study. They came to the following conclusions: for children of age 1 year, children up to 10 years, and adults, a whole body dose of 0.6 to 1.6, 1.0, and 1.1 mSv was calculated, respectively [93]. The Association for Radioprotection of Germany and Switzerland calculated somewhat lower doses (0.4–1.0 mSv for children and 0.4–0.8 mSv for adults) [94]. The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health compared the calculated doses to the whole-body countings of Swiss people.

They calculated 10-fold lower doses according to the whole-body countings [95].

radionuclides in food should be considerably lower for 90Sr and 137Cs.

fallout was less than 0.1 mSv/year [96].

always be prepared for emergency cases.

In 2014, the Federal Office of Public Health estimated the mean dose through the consumption of food to be 0.35 mSv. The main contribution came from 40K (0.2 mSv/year) and from natural radionuclides of the uranium and thorium series. The remaining contamination from the bomb

The listed dose estimations fluctuate because of the use of different radioactivity concentra‐ tions in food and different assumptions of the consumption rates. All these estimations are based on the dose coefficients for inhalation and ingestion of the International Commission for Radiation Protection (ICRP). However, there are other commissions such as the European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR), which conducts more assessments on the effects of low doses. Their dose coefficients are different from ICRP data for some important radionuclides. The ingestion dose factors of the ECRR for 137Cs and 90Sr are 5- and 320-fold higher than the ICRP factors. The ECRR attaches more importance to aspects such as DNA damage by radionuclides [97]. The application of these dose factors would result in higher doses by ingestion of 137Cs and 90Sr. Furthermore, by respecting these dose factors, the limit values for

Different countries have different limit values, even using the same dose coefficients from ICRP. This led to confusion in 1986 and was also a problem in 2011. Policymakers and the general public do not understand such differences. Why are there different threshold values for the same radionuclide in the same food? In Switzerland, the Government has the intention to let fall most limit values for radionuclides in food in "times of non-crisis". In times of crisis, the Government should enact ad hoc specific limit values, as was done in 1986 and 2011.

It is not clear how the state laboratories can sustain their activities and conserve their knowhow in the field of radioactivity monitoring of food without limit values. However, we must

Chernobyl.

152 Radiation Effects in Materials

Special thanks go to the former Director of the State Laboratory Basel-City, Dr. Martin R. Schüpbach, who took the far-sighted decision to build up the equipment for radioactivity analyses of food in 1980. Dr. Werner Manz prepared and took into operation the first γ- and β-measurement equipment for food monitoring. Basel was the first Swiss food authority, which was able to analyse food for radiocontaminants on a regular basis. The first analysed food categories were milk and drinking water. When the accident of the NPP of Chernobyl occurred, our laboratory was able to analyse almost 2000 food and environmental samples, which were well managed by the team of Drs. André Herrmann and Claude Ramseier with their technicians Matthias Stöckli, Peter Schaltenbrand, Michael Wagmann, and others. After 1990, most Swiss food-control authorities again reduced their built-up analytical potential and manpower in this field. Fortunately, Verena Figueiredo continued the radioactivity work in Basel and even expanded the equipment and methods for the analysis of natural radionuclides in food. Over the last 15 years, we were able to upgrade our equipment, and the State Labo‐ ratory Basel-City now employs of several α-, β-, and γ-spectrometers. This allows us to analyse some thousand samples a year with only one team of three to four persons.

All references concerning the reports of the State-Laboratory of Basel-City are on the Internet. Available at: http://www.gesundheitsschutz.bs.ch/konsum-umwelt/berichte.html.
