[en] Until today, countries importing food products from Malaysia, in region such as Indian Continental, Middle East, Central Europe and Central America still require the products to be tested for the radioactive contamination particularly for ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs. Information extracted from 3371 analytical results observed on isotopic concentration for ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs in the exported Malaysia origins palm products between years 2002 until 2007 had been summarized and reported in this work. Data shown that the concentration level of the concerned radio nuclides are below the minimum detectable activity and also well below maximum permissible limits adopted by Malaysian Government and also the international bodies. (Author)

[en] Beverages consumption containing radionuclides may contribute to radiation dose and poses higher cancer risk to human. Studies were conducted to determine the concentration of radionuclides present in pre-mix instant beverage. Based on the consumption rate by Malaysian adults, annual effective dose and the associated cancer risk were estimated. The activity concentration was found ranged in between 63 to 1360 Bq/kg for 40K. For other natural radionuclides of 226Ra, 228Ra, 232Th, 238U, it was ranged between 0.88 - 6.43 Bq/kg, 0.83 - 8.48 Bq/kg, 0.62 - 5.73 Bq/kg and 2.64 -21.49 Bq/kg, respectively, whilst the artificial radionuclides were less than 2 Bq/kg. Calculated annual effective doses due to the intake of radionuclides by ingestion was between 44.6 - 170.0 ?Sv/y, with potential of cancer risk incurrence between 16 to 59 cases in every 100,000 people. (author)

[en] Using the Malaysian adults’ powdered milk consumption rate, annual effective dose and the associated cancer risk for populations were calculated based on geographical distribution, gender and ethnics difference. The annual effective doses due to the intake of radionuclides from the ingestion of the powdered milk in Malaysian adults was ranged between 3.1 - 4.1 μSv/ y, with an average of 3.59 ± 0.25 μSv/ y, which give the excess lifetime cancer risk of approximately 1 case in every 80,000 people. These results indicate no significant radiation dose to the public. Based on the study outcome, there was no different in cancer risk for populations based on the geographical distribution. However, Malaysian female had 2.2 times higher chance of getting cancer risk as compared to the male. Also, the cancer risk in Malaysian Indian was 1.8 times higher than the Malays and others bumiputeras and 2.6 times higher than the Malaysian Chinese. (author)

[en] Radiochemistry and Environmental Laboratory (Ras) is a laboratory responsible for providing radioactivity analysis services in various food products, beverages and environment. Ras laboratory provides analysis services to various government, private, and local authority agencies. In addition, Ras is also involved in research and development activities related to environmental issues. one of the analysis services offered by Ras laboratory is to measure the radioactivity concentration in water samples using gamma spectrometry measurement specifically for gamma emitters. This paper aims to discuss the preparation of water samples in the environment for the measurement of gamma-emitting radionuclides. (author)

[en] Beverage consumption containing radionuclides may contribute to radiation dose and poses a higher cancer risk to human. Studies were conducted to determine the concentration of radionuclides present in the pre-mix instant beverage. Based on the consumption rate by Malaysian adults, the annual effective dose and the associated cancer risk were estimated. The activity concentration was found to range between 63 to 1360 Bq/kg for ⁴⁰K. For other natural radionuclides of ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ra, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U, it ranged between 0.88 – 6.43 Bq/kg, 0.83 – 8.48 Bq/kg, 0.62 – 5.73 Bq/kg and 2.64 –21.49 Bq/kg, respectively, whilst the artificial radionuclides were less than 2 Bq/kg. Calculated annual effective doses due to the intake of radionuclides by ingestion were between 44.6 – 170.0 μSv/y, with the potential of cancer risk incurrence between 16 to 59 cases in every 100,000 people. (author)

[en] River water from all over Malaysia had been collected and measured for the radionuclides content of Cs-137, Ra- 228 and K-40. Out of the 1,375 sampels studied, no Cs-137 was found in sampels, while 9 river sampels (0.65 %) contained Ra-228 and K-40 exceeding LPTA clearance levels of 1 Bq/ L and 10 Bq/ L, respectively, with the maximum value of 1.40 Bq/ L found for Ra-228 and 47.75 Bq/ L for K-40. For Ra-228, from the nine rivers, four rivers located in Pahang, two in Johor and one each from Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan and Sabah. Meanwhile, for K- 40, three rivers were from Johor and Sarawak, respectively, and one river each from Perak, Malacca and Penang. (author)

[en] Consumption of foods containing radionuclides may contribute to radiation dose and poses higher cancer risk to human. Studies were conducted to determine concentration of radionuclides present in commercial potato crisps. Based on the consumption rate by Malaysian adults, annual effective dose value and the associated cancer risk were estimated. the activity concentration was found ranged in between 181 to 395 Bq/kg for the natural ⁴⁰K. Meanwhile for the other natural radionuclides of ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ra, ²³²Th, ²³⁸U, it was ranged between 1.01 – 6.72 Bq/kg, 0.92 – 4.90 Bq/kg, 0.69 – 3.46 Bq/kg and 1.81 –12.60 Bq/kg, respectively, whilst the artificial radionuclides were less than 1 Bq/kg. Calculated annual effective doses due to this intake of radionuclides by ingestion was estimated in between 28.7 – 88.9 μSv/y, with potential of cancer risk incurrence between 10 to 31 cases in every 100,000 people. (author)

[en] Potassium is a very significant body mineral, important to both cellular and electrical function which needs to be uptake daily by human from various foods. Potassium-40 (⁴⁰K) which is the radioactive isotope of potassium is the largest source of natural radioactivity in animals including humans and makes up about 0.012 % (120 ppm) of the total amount of potassium found in nature. This paper reported measurements of ⁴⁰K by using gamma-ray spectrometry in fifty-one milk powder samples from two different potassium concentrations where ⁴⁰K activity per gram potassium was then calculated. In this study, the concentration of ⁴⁰K in milk powder are found in the range of 215.7 Bq.kg^-1 to 256.9 Bq.kg^-1. From calculation, the ⁴⁰K activity found lied in between 26.83 to 31.77 Bq.g^-1 (mean value 29.26 ± 1.20 Bq.g^-1) of potassium and is in good agreement with that reported in the literature, which varies from 27.33 to 31.31 Bq.g^-1 of potassium. (author)