Trace amounts of radioactive iodine were discovered in tap water in Tokyo in the wake of the disaster at the crippled nuclear plant Fukushima, Japanese media said on Saturday.
Radiation above the national safety level was also found in the water supply in five other prefectures, said an official from Japan's science ministry, which is monitoring radiation levels.
The Japanese government has halted sale of food products from the area of Fukushima, the International Atomic Energy Agency said earlier in the day as the presence of radioactive iodine contamination in food products from near the crippled plant was confirmed.
"Though radioactive iodine has a short half-life of about 8 days and decays naturally within a matter of weeks, there is a short-term risk to human health if radioactive iodine in food is absorbed into the human body," IAEA said in a statement.
Japan's chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said abnormal levels of radioactivity were detected in milk and spinach produced near Fukushima.
''This is not at the level that would have any direct effect on your health,'' Edano said at a news briefing.
The milk came from more than 30 kilometers from the nuclear plant and the spinach from over 80 kilometers.
MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti)
