It seems nowadays people pay more attention to food safety than ever before. But many find it hard to assess the food they buy. A solution may be just around the bend. A food safety supervision and information vehicle is prowling the streets helping consumers.

Everyday after work, Miss Wang in the city of Guangzhou goes to the supermarket to buy food for dinner. These days she has an extra job. She brings her food to the food safety supervision car for a check.

The assessment vehicles are provided by the Guangzhou Administration of Industry and Commerce. They're parking near big food markets and supermarkets. With different machines in the vehicle, industry supervisors can easily monitor the food for safety. And ordinary customers can test the food they've just bought. The car is vividly referred to as the "moving lab".

A researcher is checking pork Miss Wang just bought with a device on the moving lab. In just a few minutes, the result is released. Miss Wang says with her food professionally assessed, she rests easily. "The result shows the pork I bought is safe and of good quality. I think the lab vehicle is very helpful."

Over ten different food safety tests are performed in the small vehicle. This includes testing the content of sulfur dioxide in dried fruits, formaldehyde in frozen food and pesticide in vegetables.

The researcher says all the tests can be done within 3 to 5 minutes.

Chu Xiaogang is the inventor of the food quality supervision machine. He says his team is designing more tests for the machine to perform. "My team is now working on device design. We hope to invent and produce more effective food quality assessment devices and put them on the moving lab. This will help people get more correct information about food safety."

(CRI December 6, 2005)