March 31/Arlington, Va./States News Service -- The National Milk Producers Federation has noted, as part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) precautionary, routine monitoring of milk, water and select other products for radiation, the EPA reported that extremely low levels of iodine-131 were found in milk samples collected in Spokane, Wash., and San Luis Obispo, Cal.

In a joint statement, EPA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) underscored that the trace levels found in the samples are more than 5,000 times lower than the intervention thresholds set by the FDA far below levels that would cause any concern for public health. The statement said these very low amounts were expected and will likely continue to appear for the next few days of testing.

The FDA and EPA continue to reiterate that, based on current information, there is no risk to the U.S. food supply.

The full EPA press release is available online. While the EPA document does not mention the radiation finding in California, subsequent media coverage does.

From the April 4, 2011, Prepared Foods E-dition