The consequences of the disaster in Chernobyl can still be felt in the Miesbach district.
Wild boars dig up radioactive mushrooms.
A chemical laboratory assistant examines the meat in Irschenberg.
Irschenberg - Christine Weinzierl-Seidl sits in a back room of her yard on the outskirts of Irschenberg.
Outside, day tourists stroll between hills and forests.
Sometimes they peek through the flower-decked windows of the farmhouse.
But nobody sees the blood floating on a cutting board in front of the resident.
In the pale light of a neon tube, stainless steel cutlery is reflected in the dark eyes of the 42-year-old.
She wears rubber gloves and concentrates on lifting pieces of red meat.
Cool, calm, hidden from daylight: criteria that are essential for this work.
The reason: "Food safety." The meat comes from a wild boar.
Its edibility is decided a few centimeters from the cutting board - and about ten minutes later.
Weinzierl-Seidl, herself a hunter, sells game meat, runs a textile printing shop and lives and looks after the farm with her family.
In her free time, she tests wild boar meat brought by hunters for radioactivity.
Radiocesium sits ten to 30 centimeters below the ground - wild boars look for mushrooms there
In these minutes she spoons meat onto a scale with delicate movements. There is a measuring device between her and the scales. Weighing twelve kilos. The centerpiece: a lead cylinder in the shape of a chalice, wired to a finger-width display. When the lab technician is done, there will be 500 grams of lean meat in it. The device then measures the radiation.
The reason for the work goes back over 35 years. After the reactor accident in Chernobyl on April 26, 1986, radioactive radiation found its way into the soils of many Bavarian communities with fallout. At a depth of ten to 30 centimeters, "all the radiation from back then is located," explains Weinzierl-Seidl. Exactly in the depth where wild boars dig - and eat mushrooms with their branched fibers. The kilometer-long mycelia store the isotopes. Mushroom mushrooms, deer truffle, bread stubble mushrooms: "They are highly enriched."
Hunters must therefore bring game to inspectors such as Weinzierl-Seidl before it is sold or consumed.
The station in Irschenberg is officially certified, 90 percent of which is financially supported by the Bavarian Hunting Association - but the work itself is more of an honorary position than additional income.
“I want to support hunters.” They put a lot of pressure on them, for example from agriculture.
Results up to 4000 Becuerel per kilo - limit value: 600
Meat packaged in bags ends up on the laboratory bench as it does today.
Before the measurement, the laboratory assistant must perform a zero adjustment.
“Radiation is always and everywhere”: Weinzierl-Seidl knows this - also because of her earlier work in a laboratory for a pharmaceutical company.
But even after subtracting the background noise, the following often applies: “I get results of up to 4000 Becquerel per kilo.” On average, 30 to 50 percent of the meat is above the limit of 600. Then it is disposed of.
A disappointment for hunters.
"Sometimes they scold, get angry." They would get a state compensation payment through the Atomic Energy Act.
But: "Imagine, this is your first sow," says the huntress.
"And then you throw them away."
Radioactivity is rather new for hunters in the Miesbach district.
Up to now there have been mainly red deer - pure grazers.
“Bushes and trees, there is nothing in them from the radiation.” This is different with wild boars.
Their population has recently increased significantly, for example because of the many new maize fields in the region.
Biogas plants have made monoculture cultivation more popular.
The problem: wild boars are "terribly clever, difficult to hunt and have an insane reproduction rate".
Lead cylinder measures the meat - accurate preparatory work required
If a hunter is successful, he brings a good pound of venison to Irschenberg by arrangement.
“500 grams is a bunch of samples,” says the laboratory assistant and laughs.
Before she quit her “hard job” in the pharmaceutical industry, she used to work with spatula tips.
But she doesn't allow herself to be inaccurate with a tablespoon either: Weinzierl-Seidl has to work accurately when pouring meat.
In the next step, she gently presses the venison and places the lid on the gray-beige lead cylinder, which is similar in color to a yellowed computer, but is technically state-of-the-art.
+
The heart of the test station: a lead cylinder weighing twelve kilos measures the radiation.
© Thomas Plettenberg
Whether fine or rough work: Weinzierl-Seidl is flexible.
“It's not easy for me to dread anything.
I'm a practitioner. ”She found the job - not the other way around.
The mother is grateful for this.
Her two sons (8 and 11) also: "While I am measuring the sample, you can postpone your homework," she says with a smile.
This time ends when the meter beeps.
Weinzierl-Seidl looks at the device: "860 Becquerel." Too much to eat the meat.
“The sow cannot be recycled.” A few clicks of the mouse in the Excel table on a laptop seal the result.
A test report hums from the printer.
The hunter will find out about it shortly - and the Irschenberger woman hopes that he will have more luck with the next wild boar.
She will be happy to measure again even then.
“Only if we all work together will something come of it,” says Weinzierl-Seidl as she wipes the dark blood off the light cutting board.
+++ Read also: Radioactively contaminated wild boar meat: Expert warns hunters against consumption +++
Radioactivity in numbers:
According to Weinzierl-Seidl, the ubiquitous radiocesium radiation is
30 to 40 Becquerel per kilo
- depending on the weather.
After subtracting this “
basic noise
”, 600 becquerels are allowed to remain in the meat.
The station in Irschenberg is certified, but does not have an investigational drug.
Because of the measurement inaccuracy, the operator has
to evaluate
values
from 500 Becquerel
as if they were above 600. This year
17 wild boar measurements
were reported to the
Lower Hunting Authority in Miesbach
,
two of which exceeded the limit value
.
In 2020
,
17 out of 35
measured pigs could not be eaten.
In 2019
, that
happened
to
four out of 27
Wild boars too.
(nap)
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