BEIJING — Worried shoppers stripped stores of salt in Beijing, Shanghai and other parts of China today in the false belief it can guard against radiation exposure, even though any fallout from a crippled Japanese nuclear power plant is unlikely to reach the country.

The panic shopping was triggered by rumors that iodized salt can help ward off radiation poisoning — part of the swirl of misinformation crisscrossing the region in the wake of Japan’s nuclear emergency.

Supermarkets in the capital of Beijing and many cities across the country have run out of salt in the last several days. Prices of salt jumped up to 10-fold in southern Guangdong, the Internet portal sina.com reported.

Potassium iodide pills are used to help mitigate the effects of radiation poisoning, but regular table salt doesn’t contain enough iodine to block the poisoning, say health experts.