The radionuclides contamination in eggs as an environmental marker: a systematic review

Foods are contaminated with natural and man-made radionuclides. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the amount and type of radionuclides in eggs, as well as the biomarker capability of eggs. The research studies with keywords radionuclide, radioisotopes, contamination and egg were searched in PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct databases, regardless of publication time. A number of 70 studies were obtained and only 13 articles were finally selected according to exclusion, inclusion criteria and quality assessment results. Studies which detected radionuclide in the hen eggs were selected. The highest frequency of radionuclides belonged to Ra-226 and Cs-137. The index of natural radionuclides is Ra-226 and the index of synthetic radionuclides is Cs-137. The local eggs, in addition to determining food contamination, can also be a good biomarker for identifying environmental contamination.