FDA taking precautions to ensure tainted Japanese food doesn't enter U.S.

The Obama administration is taking extra precautions to ensure that Japanese food products that have been tainted by radioactive materials do not enter the United States.

As workers continue to try to get control of stricken nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Japanese officials said Wednesday that they’ve identified potentially harmful radioactive material in 11 vegetables.

Here’s the Washington Post with more:

“The list of contaminated vegetables includes broccoli, cabbage, turnips, parsley and other green leaf vegetables, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said. Earlier in the week, government officials found elevated radiation levels in raw milk and spinach in several prefectures near the Daiichi plant.”

The news comes as the Obama administration is working to ensure that U.S. food imports from Japan are not contaminated by radiation. The Food and Drug Administration issued an “Import Alert” Tuesday on milk, vegetables and fruit coming from four parts of Japan.

The alert allows U.S. officials to detain affected products if they make their way to the United States. But, the alert notes, Japanese officials have already halted the export of the affected products.

Radioactive iodine, which was found in dairy products and some produce in Japan, has a number of potential health effects.

“Though radioactive iodine has a short half-life of about 8 days and decays naturally within a matter of weeks, there is a risk to human health if radioactive iodine in food is absorbed into the human body,” the FDA says. “If ingested, it can accumulate in and cause damage to the thyroid. Children and young people are particularly at risk of thyroid damage due to the ingestion of radioactive iodine.”

The effect of radiation released from the stricken reactors is becoming a major issue of concern in Japan. Tokyo officials said Wednesday that infants should not drink the city’s tap water.