SHANGHAI: A risk assessment center focusing on food safety and product quality in the city will be set up this month, it was announced on Friday.

"Illegal chemicals added to food have led to several major scares across China," Huang Xiaolu, head of the Shanghai product quality supervision bureau, wrote on an Internet forum. "Due to the impact of last year's tainted powdered milk, consumer confidence went right down.

"And despite frequent government crackdowns, illegal non-food substances remain a threat and we should try to erase the problem through early detection, warning and intervention."