SHANGHAI’S food watchdog is developing an upgraded monitoring system which can capture irregularities with food producers and alert authorities automatically, officials said yesterday.

Surveillance cameras can capture real-time food manufacturing and monitor such things as whether staff are wearing uniforms and masks and disinfect relevant items of equipment and operating areas.

Violations will be captured by the camera automatically and transferred to authorities.

If the temperature of refrigerators, transportation vehicles or manufacturing procedures fails to meet requirements, which can potentially cause the food to rot, authorities will be alerted immediately as well.

More than 90 percent of the roughly 178 high risk food producers in Shanghai have been fitted with the real-time surveillance system, according to the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration.

“Shanghai has more than 100 high risk food manufacturing companies and they mainly produce meat, infant formula and prepackaged cold dish,” said Chao Qiangguo, director of the food production and management department of the bureau.

“The majority of them have been equipped with a surveillance camera system, and scenes of their kitchens, manufacturing workshops and assembly lines are transferred to officials’ mobile phones through an app in real time,” said Chao. The target is to upgrade them to include automatic alerting function, officials said.

Ten of the many time-honored food producers based in Huangpu District, including Laodachang, Taikang and Sanyang have been fitted with the system.

The traditional producers represent the classic taste of Shanghai and are part of the local culture, but may have old production base facilities, backward technology and weak quality awareness, posing potential risks, officials said.

The district government has spent 1 million yuan (US$149,253) establishing the remote video surveillance system.