Beijing's Center for Disease Control and Prevention is developing a new way to quickly test heavy metals in food, Beijing Times reported on Thursday.

Most food in the market contains more than 20 kinds of heavy metals, most of which are lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and chromium, according to the center. Despite their insignificant amounts, those heavy metals can be quite harmful in some foods that have a strong adsorption ability.

The center is working with the chemistry department of Capital Normal University to develop the fast testing method that will take less than one hour to identify the contents of the five major heavy metals.