Alpha and gamma spectrometry for determination of natural and artificial radionuclides in tea, herbal tea and camomile marketed in Italy

Several kinds of tea, camomile and herbal tea were analysed to determine natural and artificial radioactivity. The radionuclides were determined by alpha (²¹⁰Po) and gamma (²²⁸Ac, ²¹⁴Pb, ²¹⁴Bi, ²¹⁰Pb, ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs) spectrometry. ²²⁸Ac ranged between 0.6 and 9.0 Bq kg⁻¹_dry; ²¹⁰Po between 1.90 and 36.1 Bq kg⁻¹_dry; ²¹⁴Pb and ²¹⁴Bi between 0.7 and 4.9 Bq kg⁻¹_dry; ²¹⁰Pb between < 10.0 and 58.9 Bq kg⁻¹_dry; ⁴⁰K between 463 and 936 Bq kg⁻¹_dry; ¹³⁷Cs between < 0.3 and 2.6 Bq kg⁻¹_dry. The percentage of ²¹⁰Po extraction in infusion was also determined; the arithmetical mean value of percentage of ²¹⁰Po extraction resulted 20.7 ± 7.50.