of the fruit. The juice may be used immediately or dried as fruit leather and stored for later consumption. Pandanus samples usually consisted of two large fruits; fully matured fruits were collected when available. Breadfruit was collected from most of the inhabited islands because it is another important food plant are either baked or fried. cooked later. Yellow whenever possible. Other cultivated by the Marshallese. Ripe breadfruit It is also dried and preserved in the ground to be to yellowish-green ripe breadfruit were collected A sample usually included five fruits. vegetation collected were papayas, squash, bananas, and Tacca. Tacca is a perennial plant with root tubers that are processed into a starchy material to be cooked or preserved for later use. These food crops are not as common in the diet as coconut, breadfruit, and Pandanus. Animal samples collected by field crabs, were purchased purchased animals teams, with the exception of coconut from the Marshallese by the DOE representatives. were always either pigs or chickens, which The represent the major source of meat protein outside of imported canned meats. The pigs were moved to a contamination-free area, and biologists wearing surgical gloves carefully dissected from the animals the major organs: heart, liver, lung, kidneys, sternum, and reproductive organs. with the animal skin, The major organs cartilage, spleen, skin, tissue, bone, The organs were carefully removed to avoid contact transferred to plastic bags, removed muscle from the chicken were labeled, muscle, and then frozen. liver, bones, skin, members while gizzard, and heart. Coconut crabs were sometimes collecting plant samples. isolated from local delicacy and taken discovered field team These large land crabs were usually found in areas population centers for by food because whenever they are discovered. considered Only the a great muscle and hepatopancreas tissue was removed from the coconut crab. Soil Sampling In most cases, soil profile samples were collected in the root zone of sampled plants so that radionuclide concentrations measured in the plant tissue could be compared to concentrations in the soil. While the total soil volume utilized by be through the the root plant zone roots are could not possibly representative encountered by the plant's roots. of the sampled, radionuclide profiles taken concentration