Japan cites radiation in food near plant

FUKUSHIMA, Japan -- Even as conditions at Japan's stricken nuclear power plant seem to be stabilizing, the first signs have appeared that contamination from the complex has seeped into the food chain, officials said Saturday. The radiation levels in spinach and milk from farms near the tsunami-crippled facility exceeded government safety limits, they said.

Minuscule amounts of radioactive iodine also were found in tap water Friday in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan -- although experts said none of those tests showed any health risks. The Health Ministry also said that radioactive iodine slightly above government safety limits was found in drinking water in a sampling Thursday from Fukushima prefecture, the site of the nuclear plants, but later tests showed the level had fallen again.

Meanwhile, working overnight into Sunday, engineers have successfully restored power to cooling pumps in two reactors at the disabled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the first genuinely hopeful sign in the weeklong battle to prevent a meltdown at any of the six reactors at the site, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Although power has so far been restored only at reactor buildings 5 and 6, which were not considered a particular threat, that success suggests that workers are finally beginning to make some headway in their effort to prevent more radiation from escaping the plant, the L.A. Times reported.

Still officials said the situation was far from resolved. "We more or less do not expect to see anything worse than what we are seeing now," said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Japan has grappled with a cascade of disasters unleashed by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11. The quake spawned a tsunami that ravaged Japan's northeastern coast, killing more than 7,600 people and knocking out cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing the complex to leak radiation. More than 11,000 people are missing, and more than 452,000 are living in shelters.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano insisted the contaminated foods "pose no immediate health risk." An expert in the United States also said the risk appeared limited and urged calm. "The most troubling thing to me is the fear that's out of proportion to the risk," said Dr. Henry Duval Royal, a radiologist at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis.

The tainted milk was found 20 miles from the plant, a local official said. The spinach was collected from six farms between 60 miles and 75 miles to the south.

Those areas are rich farm country known for melons, rice and peaches, so the contamination could affect food supplies for large parts of Japan.

Low levels of radiation have been detected well beyond Tokyo, which is 140 miles south of the plant, but hazardous levels have been limited to the plant itself.