The Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI) is planning to deploy more mobile laboratories to conduct sampling and testing of microbial contaminants in vegetables in markets in the National Capital Region.

This comes after E. coli, a bacteria typically present in human and animal feces, was reportedly found in some vegetables in urban farms and wet markets in Metro Manila, based on a study by the University of the Philippines-Diliman College of Science.

“For now, they only have one but the BPI is planning to have more mobile labs. As far as I know, they will acquire at least 10,” DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said.

“Their mobile laboratory are doing rounds to check on the microbial contaminants like E. coli, likewise for heavy metals,” he added.

De Mesa also said that the BPI’s program provides immediate sampling with results on chemical and microbial contaminants in vegetables.

“What’s good in the mobile laboratories is that they can visit the markets to immediately get samples. This is a bus,” said De Mesa, adding that besides the mobile laboratory, the BPI still has other stationary laboratories to process vegetable samples.