The city's food and drug administration said yesterday that they haven't found any problems with this year's supply of hair crabs because they check the level of antibiotics in the popular crab every year, in response to reports in Taiwan that detected a carcinogen in the crabs from Yangcheng Lake.

    Officials in Taiwan said a 600 kilogram batch of the crabs, from the famed lake in Jiangsu Province bearing the Shuizhongxian brand name, was tested on October 17 and contained AOZ, an antibiotic that has been linked to cancer.

    Many chemicals are toxic and increase the risks of developing cancer, so we should find out how much AOZ residue is safe to use, for the sake of humans and animals, said a spokesman with the food and drug administration.

    "We have been re-testing antibiotics such as AOZ, and our recent tests concluded that the AOZ in the famous hair crabs doesn't exceed the limit, the spokesman said.

(Source: www.shanghai.gov.cn )