Assessment of radiological risks of gamma emitters in some milk samples available in Iraqi markets

Milk is a staple food consumed worldwide. Milk is a vital source of vitamins for human health. It can become contaminated with nuclear materials because of radioactivity from the cow’s feed and water. This study aimed to measure levels of 232Th,238U, and 40K radioactivity that comes from nature and to calculate the annual effective dose from the ingestion of milk powder samples gathered from community markets located within the Najaf Governorate, Iraq. Natural radioactivity in samples was detected using a NaI (Tl) radioactive spectrometer. The mean specific activities detected in milk samples for 238U, 232Th, and 40K were determined (15.28±1.95) Bq/kg, (5.57±1.09) Bq/kg, and (286.86±19.79) Bq/kg, respectively; meanwhile, the corresponding total annual effective doses from powdered milk consumption were (0.171 mSv y-1) for children (ages 7-12) and (0.055 mSv y-1) for adults (>17 years), respectively. Based on UNSCEAR, the measured specific activity and annual effective dose values for all samples in the study were lower than the worldwide median values. Hence, the tested milk samples pose no significant radiological risk.