Safe from harm

Dr Shen Ping spends the bulk of her time going through lab test reports to ensure results reflect safe drug residues in food samples.

Q: What is it do you do at work?

Dr Shen Ping: I lead a team of five analysts in testing for veterinary drug residues in food of animal origin. We also test for substances that are prohibited due to their properties of carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, or endocrine disruption – which, respectively, could cause cancer, mutate genes or interfere with the body’s hormone systems.

In addition, we keep a lookout for drugs that may have adverse side effects or may trigger an allergy or antimicrobial resistance (the state where strains of micro-organisms have evolved to become more resistant to antibiotics, thus becoming harder to suppress), if overused.

Q: What are the main challenges you face at work and how do you overcome them?

There are more and more uncommon and unanticipated food safety risks emerging worldwide. There have been food scandals of industrial chemicals being added into food products to give them an attractive appearance. These chemicals could also be fed to animals to promote growth. These fraudulent practices jeopardise food safety and endanger public health.

Other potential consequences include antimicrobial resistance, environmental pollution and outbreaks of plant and animal diseases. Early alert systems for potential food safety issues, as well R&D, international collaboration, innovation on processes and public education are the strategies we have adopted to overcome these challenges.

Q: Share some lesser-known facts about your work.

Some people tend to assume that agricultural chemicals are always very harmful to health, but this is incorrect. In fact, most of the time they only pose a risk if used in excess. When used prudently, agricultural chemicals are actually beneficial as they are crucial in helping to boost the world’s food supply.

To the layman, laboratory work sounds very cool because of the way it’s portrayed on TV or in movies. In reality, laboratory work requires the scientist to be meticulous, vigilant, and hardworking. Lab scientists must also be prepared to work on weekends and public holidays because food safety issues are unpredictable and cannot wait.

I wouldn’t give this job up for anything though. It has shown me all the tremendous achievements humans have made in the areas of food safety and food supply.

Drug reference standards are spiked into meat samples to construct a matrix-matching calibration curve to quantify the levels of drug residues present.

Q: What are some notable projects that you are or have been involved in?

I’m involved in the ‘Non-target Project’, which seeks to establish advanced laboratory testing capabilities through high-resolution mass spectrometry. This analytical technology enables the rapid screening of large quantities of contaminants in food.

With conventional analytical methods, ‘targeted’ approaches are employed, where testing is done based on a limited, known list of targets. With such methods, any contaminants outside of the list of targets would be left out. Multiple methods had to be run at the same time if a wide range of ‘targeted’ tests were required.

The ‘Non-target Project’ addresses the issues of such a traditional approach, allowing ‘unknown’ contaminants to be detected quickly and efficiently. This project will further enhance AVA’s preparedness for uncommon/unanticipated food safety hazards. With these testing capabilities, early signals of potential food safety risks will be captured so that AVA is able to mitigate impacts and damage at early stages.

Q: What aspects of your work do you find enjoyable or satisfying?

All my friends and visitors from other countries always say that Singapore is a nice place to live in because there is no need to worry about food safety issues. Hearing these comments gives me a great sense of satisfaction!

Watch Dr Shen Ping at work

Did You Know?

Some food items carry the claims of ‘hormone-free’ and ‘antibiotic-free’, while others don’t. Regardless of whether they carry such claims, meat and meat products in Singapore are free from synthetic hormones and harmful antibiotics residues. Here’s why: