Imleria badia such as food expert Antonio Carluccio, and is sold in markets in Europe and central Mexico. Its mushrooms are less often infested by maggots than other boletes. Several European studies have demonstrated that the mushroom can bioaccumulate some trace metals from the soil, such as mercury, cobalt, and nickel. Additionally, the mushroom contains a pigment that concentrates radioactive caesium; specimens collected in Europe following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster contained several times more caesium-137 than those collected before the incident. The bay bolete was first named as "Boletus castaneus" ß "badius" (i.e. a subspecies of "Boletus castaneus") by Elias Magnus Fries
Radiation effects from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster from the Fukushima plant. Rain accumulated the caesium in the soil. Measured radioactivity per kilogram reached 250 becquerels in eastern Hokkaido, and 25 becquerels in the mountains of western Japan. According to the research group, these levels were not high enough to require decontamination. Professor Tetsuzo Yasunari of the University of Nagoya called for a national soil-testing program because of the nationwide spread of radioactive material, and suggested identified hotspots, places with high radiation levels, should be marked with warning signs. The first study concentrated on caesium-137. Around the nuclear plant, places were found containing up to 40.000 becquerels/kg, 8