The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration published the dried food safety and nutrition assessment report yesterday, the first report on food safety in the city. The report, though not perfect as a beginning, marks the creation of an early-warning mechanism to monitor the safety of dried aquatic food.

The report was made after the authorities conducted a sampling and survey among 15 major local aquatic food processors and wholesalers, and 78 business units dealing with the trading of dried aquatic food products, including wet markets, supermarkets and restaurants. Before making the report, the inspectors also conducted laboratory tests to simulate real conditions and come up with reasonable solutions.

The inspection group found three problems during the process and suggested three avenues for improvement in the report.

Firstly, the use of the chemical hydrogen dioxide in the dried aquatic food processing was questioned. Current local standards don't allow its use, but the inspectors found the practice was quite common in wet markets. Studies indicate that consumption of food containing less than 3 percent of the substance is safe and test results showed that hydrogen dioxide doesn't have an effect on the nutrients and the quality of the protein in processed ox tripe. Therefore, they suggested producers ask the authority for permission to enlarge its usage.

Secondly, why do sleeve-fish contain the substance formaldehyde? No food processor was found using formaldehyde but still 9 percent of aquatic products were found to contain it. Sleeve-fish, whitebait and inkfish were worst, with sleeve-fish being the worst case. The inspectors found these foods had accumulated formaldehyde during the preservation process or by changes to its own metabolism. They suggested more research on the natural proportion of formaldehyde in food so as to decide a more appropriate standard.

Thirdly, how to regulate dried aquatic food products? Because the processing, packaging and transportation of dried food products is simple and straightforward, the inspectors found that all the 15 targeted units lacked rules, standards and guidance. They suggest instituting a management system to monitor and guide the processors in the substances they use and their processing procedures.

(Source: www.shanghai.gov.cn )