Jiading will start a free food safety testing service in Shanghai from July, and 12 gratis check points, supported by the local food and drug administration, have been set up for detection of agricultural and sideline products.
The testing programs can search for formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide, rongalite, nitrite, sulfur dioxide, pesticide residues and steroid clenbuterol.
“We encourage our local residents to bring their purchased foods to the nearby test point for testing, and in this way they can be assured of the safety of the produce,” said a staff member from Jiading food and drug administration. “The tests cover foods that are those commonly eaten by a majority of individuals, including rice, flour, beans, seafood and pickled products, but we do not support the testing of root vegetables at the current time.”
According to the Jiading news report, the whole testing procedure is very simple. Taking an inspection of a few leaves of vegetable or pieces of meat, and the test results come out in less than 15 minutes.
A health expert advised people to take an original piece of food as their test sample especially for some cooking materials which have to be immersed in water for food preparation, such as mushrooms, omasums and dried bamboo shoots.
Staff also reminded customers to keep their purchase receipts, which makes it easier to report to local administrations if the tested food is found to contain harmful chemicals.