No one wants to be seen profiting from disasters, but sometimes it just can’t be helped.

Last year’s earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan has set off a safety craze in that country, leading to brisk sales for Beverly Hills’ Universal Detection Technology.

Since last spring, the company, which makes devices to detect biological weapons and distributes other detection equipment, has seen its sales of radiation detectors boom. In fact, they’re now the company’s biggest sellers.

In Japan, radioactive particles have been found in vegetables, baby formula, beef, fish and rice since radiation leaked from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last year.

Universal Detection Chief Executive Jacques Tizabi said prices for the detectors have risen 10 percent to 20 percent since the disaster, with models ranging in price from about $1,100 to more than $6,000. Most customers are security companies and public agencies, but the company sells online to the public.

Tizabi said the company has raised prices as demand for detectors has driven up his wholesale costs. Detectors are being sold in Japan on eBay at two or three times their retail price.

“People are freaked out about radiation,” he said. “This is the first time I can think of that consumers are actually clamoring for these.”

It’s not the first time Universal Detection has benefited from a public health scare. The 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five in the United States prompted the company to introduce disposable tests that checked for anthrax, which have been steady sellers ever since to public agencies.

Now, the company is working with Honeywell International Inc. of Morristown, N.J., to develop a cheaper and more user-friendly radiation detector for the consumer market.

The company doesn’t have a prototype yet, but the idea is to build a Bluetooth-equipped, handheld detector that will guide users through radiation tests and show results through a smart phone app. The devices will sell for between $750 and $1,000.

“Most detectors were designed for nuclear safety folks. Now, if people want something to test their food before they eat it, it has to be something easier,” Tizabi said.