Everyday ingredients were among 337 foodstuffs found to have radiation levels exceeding new safety standards set by the health ministry in April.
Everyday ingredients were among 337 foodstuffs found to have radiation levels exceeding new safety standards set by the health ministry in April.
The products, including "shiitake" mushrooms grown on tree logs, bamboo shoots and seafood, were detected in nine prefectures.
The ministry had anticipated that the foodstuffs would not pass.
The new standard for radioactive cesium, implemented April 1, is 100 becquerels per kilogram for food in general, compared with the interim standard of 500 becquerels until March.
Food items with more than 100 becquerels per kilogram cannot be shipped to markets.
The interim standard will continue to apply to processed food made by the end of March as well as beef, rice and soybeans.
Of the 13,867 food products inspected in April, 350 items exceeded the interim and new standards.
Of those, 55 items exceeded 500 becquerels per kilogram. Most of them would not subject to control under the interim standard.
Among the nine prefectures, Fukushima, site of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, had the largest number of food items exceeding the government's safety standard at 142, followed by Tochigi, 69; Ibaraki, 50; Miyagi, 36; Iwate, 35; Chiba, 13; Yamagata and Gunma, 2 each; and Kanagawa, 1.
Of the food items, bamboo shoots, shiitake grown on tree logs, "kogomi" (wild fern plant) and "fukinoto" (wild butterbur buds) showed high levels of radiation, partly due to their shipment time.
As for seafood, sea bass caught in Sendai Bay as well as sea bass and flatfish caught in waters off Ibaraki Prefecture were suspended from shipment.
The new allowable limits are 50 becquerels per kilogram of milk and baby food and 10 becquerels per kilogram for drinking water. But no sample exceeded the limit.