Domodedovo customs find over 30 kilograms of radioactive mushrooms

Customs officers at Domodedovo airport found more than 30 kilograms of dried porcini mushrooms with elevated radiation levels in the luggage of a passenger travelling to Uzbekistan, Russia's Federal Customs Service said.

A radiation monitoring system sounded an alert during checks on the luggage of the 32-year-old foreign national. Officers found a package labelled as Russian-made dried porcini mushrooms inside a box.

A portable radiometer-spectrometer showed radiation levels more than 10 times the natural background level. The customs service said preliminary identification detected caesium-137.

Consumer protection agency Rospotrebnadzor classified the shipment as radioactive waste requiring disposal. The manufacturer received an order, and the product's conformity declaration was terminated. Production under that declaration and further sales were suspended.