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No radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl disaster in Hungarian white truffles (Tuber magnatum).
Journal article

No radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl disaster in Hungarian white truffles (Tuber magnatum).

  • Büntgen U Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, CB2 3EN, UK; Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstr 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Global Change Research Centre (CzechGlobe), Bělidla 986/4a, Brno 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic; Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic. Electronic address: ulf.buentgen@geog.cam.ac.uk.
  • Jäggi M Paul Scherer Institute PSI, Forschungsstr 111, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland. Electronic address: maya.jaeggi@psi.ch.
  • Egli S Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstr 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
  • Heule M Paul Scherer Institute PSI, Forschungsstr 111, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
  • Peter M Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstr 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
  • Zagyva I NEFAG Zrt., Kaán Károly u. 71, 7000 Szolnok, Hungary.
  • Krusic PJ Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, CB2 3EN, UK; Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, SE-10691, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Zimermann S Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstr 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
  • Bagi I NEFAG Zrt., Kaán Károly u. 71, 7000 Szolnok, Hungary.
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  • 2019-07-09
Published in:
  • Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987). - 2019
Central Europe
Chernobyl disaster
Environmental contamination
Food toxicology
Fungal ecology
Radioactive pollution
Radiocaesium-137
Truffle fruitbodies
Agaricales
Ascomycota
Cesium Radioisotopes
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
Disasters
Ecosystem
Humans
Hungary
Radioactive Fallout
Soil
Soil Pollutants, Radioactive
English Despite being one of the most expensive gourmet foods, it remains unclear if the iconic White Truffle (Tuber magnatum Pico; hereinafter WT) accumulates radioactivity at harmful levels comparable to other fungal species. Here, we measure the active radiocaesium-137 concentration (137Cs) in ten hypogeous WT fruitbodies from southern Hungary, and the soils in which they were growing. All WTs reveal non-significant 137Cs values, thus providing an 'all clear' for WT hunters in the species' northernmost habitats, where corresponding soil samples occasionally exhibit slight 137Cs concentrations. Our results are particularly relevant in the light of a rapidly increasing global demand for WTs and their subsequent trading extent and price inflation, because up to 600 kg of fresh fruitbodies are harvested each year in southern Hungary. Moreover, some of Europe's forest ecosystems, in which mushroom picking is common practise, are still contaminated with 137Cs from the Chernobyl fallout more than 30 years ago, posing a serious threat to human health.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/278510
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