Tiny radioactive particles called radiocesium were dispersed throughout the upper atmosphere during those nuclear tests.
And many scientists believe that the east coast of the U.S. received the brunt of that fallout, thanks to wind and rainfall patterns.
The experiment was surprising to Kaste who discovered one particular batch of honey from Raleigh, North Carolina, with levels of the nuclear contaminant 100 times higher than the rest of food samples.
Out of those samples, more than half — 68 to be exact — tested at levels above 0.03 becquerels per kilogram, with the highest levels (19.1 bpk) coming from Florida.