China Agri News Week 23, 2020
This is the news overview of week 23 from the agricultural team of the Netherlands Embassy in Beijing.
Experts Propose New Standards for Fresh and Frozen Meat Products
During China’s annual parliamentary meeting, Qiao Xiaoling, a China People’s Political Consultative Conference member and deputy director of Beijing Academy of Food Sciences, advised on the optimization of the National Food Safety Standard of Fresh (Frozen) Livestock and Poultry Products.
Optimizing the standard starts with implementing limits for indicator and pathogenic bacteria, according to Qiao. There are currently no requirements included in the National Standard for indicator bacteria an pathogenic bacteria limits. The main reason for this is that meat products are mainly consumed as non-instant food and will therefore almost always cooked before consumption. However, the lack of these requirements enhance contamination and might impose severe public health issues. In addition, Qiao stresses the importance of establishing separate limits for fresh and frozen meat. As of now, the only limit that is in the national standard doesn’t make a distinction between fresh and frozen meat.
Furthermore, experts call for more specific supervision requirements for thawed meat. Right now, thawed meat is often misrepresented and sold as fresh meat, heightening the risk of microbial contamination. Besides, selling thawed meat as fresh meat is also seriously disrupting the fresh meat market, since the market price of real fresh meats is intrinsically higher due to fresh meat storage and transportation costs (sources, subsequently in Chinese and English: China Food News Network and Chemlinked).
Fujian Government Push Banks to Issue Loans for Pig Industry Recovery
Since the beginning of this year, the Fujian Agricultural Bank of China has issued loans to enterprises and farmers to promote the transformation and development in China’s pig industry. Loans worth 2.93 billion yuan were issued so far this year, an increase of 2.25 billion yuan (430%), compared to the same time last year. The bank and the government work in close collaboration to assure that the loans benefit the entire pig industry value chain (source, Chinese only: Farmers’ Daily May 30th).
First Thai Fruit Entered China Through Cross-Border Cold Chain Train
On May 21st, nearly 232 tons of Thai fruits crossed the National Railway Pingxiang Port and were distributed throughout the entire country. It is the first time that Thai fruits entered the Chinese market employing cross-border cold chain train. It is expected that starting from June, 4 thousand tons of Thai fruit will enter the country through this same port monthly.
China is more and more focused on cold chain transportation of perishable products. This is important to reduce quality loss as well as products itself during transport. With over 16 cubic meters of cold storage capacity and two highly efficient ports, the Netherlands is one of the world’s leading countries in cold chain transport development and technology (source, Chinese only: International Fruit and Vegetables).
Short News:
- Recently, MARA issued a plan to deploy special rectification of agricultural product quality and safety in 2020, to severely crack down on various illegal drug use and illegal addition (source, Chinese only: Dairy Magazine).
- MARA issued the Emergency implementation plan, second edition 2020, with regards to the African Swine Fever epidemic (source and full report, Chinese only: The China Veterinarian).
- Inner Mongolia will invest nearly 2 billion yuan to support the development of the pig industry (source, Chinese only: Farmers’ Daily, May 30th).
- On the closing day of the 21st China Shouguang International Vegetable Science and Technology Expo, the organizer announced the launch of the 365-day "Online Vegetable Expo" on the short-video and live-streaming application, Pingduoduo. There will be year-round promotions, online auctions, and other online activities (source, Chinese only: AsiaFruit).