This issue includes: Edited by - Denmark in China · Denmark; The Danish dairy industry and milk...

Edited by:

Marie Louise Flach de Neergaard

Minister Counsellor

(Food, Agriculture & Fisheries)

Anne Klinge

Commercial Intern

(Food, Agriculture & Fisheries)

This issue includes:

News: Happy Denmark Hello Guangzhou event, CNCA dairy training and inspection in Denmark, Training Program for Chinese AQSIQ Delegation in Danish Poultry Production, China-Denmark Roundtable on Dairy Products and Dairy Ingredients, AQSIQ Inspection Visit on Pet Food in Denmark, Danish agriculture and food exports to China, Chinese food inflation, Friland are now allowed to sell organic pork in China,

News flash: Agricultural reforms, Farmland, Poultry, Food safety, Food Security, Dairy Products and Infant Formula, Genetically modified foods, Cooking Oil,

Imported food, Vegetables and Fruit, Pork, Wild animals

Food Team News – December 2013 – January 2014

1

Anne Klinge

Commercial Intern

[email protected]

+86 (10) 8532 9926

Mobile: +86 131 2137 7702

Lulu Li

Innovation Officer

[email protected]

+86 6085 2009

Mobile: +86 136 0186 6475

Liu Qiang

Commercial Officer

[email protected]

+86 (10) 8532 9920

Mobile: +86 138 1126

2958

Lulu Li

Innovation Officer

[email protected]

+86 6085 2009

Mobile: +86 136 0186 6475

Shan He (Grace)

Commercial Officer

[email protected]

+86 (10) 8532 9915

Mobile: +86 138 1168 7696

Maria Rønde Holm

Commercial Intern

[email protected]

+86 (10) 8532 9926

Mobile: +86 134 146 475 905

Marie Louise Flach de Neergaard

Minister Counsellor

Team Leader

[email protected]

+86 (10) 8532 9987

Mobile: +86 139 1023 5271

Daniela Zheng

Commercial Officer

[email protected]

+86 (23) 6372 5161

Mobile: +86 134 5236 0656

Huifang Jiang (Lydia)

Commercial Officer

[email protected]

+86 21 6209 0500 + 226

Mobile: + 86 139 1659 3810 Huifang Jiang (Lydia)

Commercial Officer

[email protected]

+86 21 6209 0500 + 226

Mobile: + 86 139 1659 3810

Li Guo

Commercial Officer

[email protected]

(+852) 8532 9995

Mobile: (+86) 13910143620

Jianru Cen (Jane)

Commercial Officer

[email protected]

+86 (20) 202 8797 320

Mobile: +86 139 2602 4661

Peter Christian Binau-Hansen

Commercial Intern (starting

February 1st)

[email protected]

+86 (10) 8532 9926

Mobile: +86 132 6443 3259

mailto:[email protected]


2

Table of Contents Happy Denmark Hello Guangzhou event ...................................................................................... 3

CNCA dairy training and inspection in Denmark .......................................................................... 4

Training Program for Chinese AQSIQ Delegation in Danish Poultry Production ....................... 5

China-Denmark Roundtable on Dairy Products and Dairy Ingredients ....................................... 7

AQSIQ Inspection Visit on Pet Food in Denmark ......................................................................... 8

Danish agriculture and food exports to China ................................................................................ 9

Chinese food inflation .................................................................................................................... 10

Friland are now allowed to sell organic pork in China .................................................................. 11

The Chinese government is underscoring more rural reforms and the development of modern agriculture....................................................................................................................................... 12

News Flash ..................................................................................................................................... 14

Agricultural reforms ....................................................................................................................... 14

Farmland ........................................................................................................................................ 14

Food safety ..................................................................................................................................... 16

Food Security .................................................................................................................................. 21

Imported food ................................................................................................................................ 22

Genetically modified foods ........................................................................................................... 22

Pork ............................................................................................................................................... 24

Dairy Products ............................................................................................................................... 24

Poultry ........................................................................................................................................... 25

Vegetables and Fruit ..................................................................................................................... 27

Cooking Oil ................................................................................................................................... 29

Wild animals .................................................................................................................................. 30


3

News

On Saturday the 18th of January the Royal Danish Consulate General in Guangzhou together with Arla Foods

China, Co-Ro Food (China) Ltd. and Kjeldsens Ltd. hosted the event “Happy Denmark, Hello Guangzhou” to

promote Danish food and culture with special attention

to H.C. Andersen.

For the last couple of years food safety has been high on

the Chinese agenda, and therefore the event was used to

highlight the Danish food companies and their focus on

high quality and food safety. This issue was touched

upon by the Consul General, Mr. Ole Lindholm, during

his opening speech:

“If you enjoy either, a butter cookie from Kelsen, a glass of milk

from Arla or a glass of lemonade from Sun-Quick you can rest

assure that these products are made from ingredients of the highest

quality”

With a small Danish village as the setting, milk, butter

cookies, and lemonade was handed out to the local

people of Guangzhou.

Furthermore, in close co-operation with Odense City

Museums, the event had the opportunity to bring two

of Denmark’s most famous characters, H.C.

Andersen and The Little Mermaid, to the city of

Guangzhou. With the help of these two the event

attracted thousands of people and numerous local

media. According to Ole Lindholm, the attention

showed the strength of combining food and culture in

one event:

“I must say that the overwhelming success of this event shows

the attractiveness of the Danish culture, and our fine food

products. The combination of these two elements ensured a

high level of attention.”

In the future it is the intention, to continue creating

awareness of Danish culture and food by hosting

similar events in China.


4

News

After a very successful dairy training in Beijing in September, the Danish Dairy industry was pleased to welcome

the trainees from China in Denmark to conduct the module 2 training. The training and inspection took place

during the week of the 25th of November 2013.

The training group arrived in Denmark on Sunday the

24th of November and as soon as they arrived, they were

taken to Lægaard Landbrugsskole Holstebro, to get back

to the old school days. The training covered

Organization and Operationalization of food control in

Denmark; The Danish dairy industry and milk

production in Denmark and Introduction to food plant

audit. To make the training more vivid, a part of the

program included a practice inspection on Arla Hoco

dairy where they were split into three teams for practice

inspection. Arla Hoco has deliberately created several inconformity items for the trainee inspectors to find out.

The feedback from the CNCA officials were very

positive and they were all very excited about the

practice inspection and said that they would use what

they learnt for the future inspection for other

countries. At the end of the training course, each

participant was presented with a certificate signed by

Danish Dairy Board and Danish Agriculture and Food

Council.

China inspection requires that all the foreign dairy

companies which intend to export to China should be

registered under CNCA and it cannot export dairy

products from May 1st 2014 if it is not registered. Due

to the high attention and sensitivity about infant formula, China requires that all the infant formula plants should

be inspected before registration. Denmark is the

very first country to be inspected. At the time of

writing this article, CNCA is inspecting France and

the Netherlands. Germany is scheduled in

February. The inspection team went to inspect

Arla Arinco for powdered infant formula and Arla

Esbjerg for liquid infant formula.

After the inspection, CNCA is now compiling the

report and will send it to the Embassy for

comments. The Embassy is now following up on

the inspection work.


5

News

Invited by the Danish Agriculture & Food Council, a team of two inspectors from Chinese General

Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) attended a one-week training

program in Danish poultry production

between the 8th and 14th of December 2013.

The Danish Embassy in Beijing, which also

coordinated the training program, sent a

commercial officer to accompany the Chinese

inspectors throughout the visiting program as

an escort interpreter.

The operative objective of the training

program was to transfer knowledge to the

Chinese AQSIQ delegation about the high

level of quality poultry production in Denmark

in a bid to facilitate the signing of a protocol

between Chinese AQSIQ and Danish

Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA)

to allow Danish market access of poultry

products into China.

The training program started off with an opening meeting between the Chinese inspectors and DVFA at DVFA’s

location on the 9th of December. The Danish Agriculture &

Food Council made an introduction on the overall Danish

agriculture. DVFA presented Danish/EU regulatory

framework related to supervision and inspection systems in

Denmark, procedures for animal health and disease control in

chicken breeding and broiler production, crisis management as

well as OIE relevant regulations.

Following presentations from the Danish side, Chinese

inspectors briefly introduced Chinese entry animal and plant

inspection and quarantine system including the set-

up/structure of AQSIQ, regulatory framework and the

fundamental workflow, particularly focusing on the inspection

and quarantine access system on high risk agri-products such as

livestock, poultry and meat products. The meeting was

completed with DVFA’s update on the status of avian

influenza.

The Chinese delegation was guided to visit the entire broiler

production value chain, starting from DanHatch’s rearing farm

in Årup for parent generation’s day-one birds to 17-18 week

birds, breeding farm for parent generation' 17-18 week birds to

62 weeks birds. The birds at breeding farms lay eggs which are transported to DanHatch’s hatchery plants.


6

News

At DanHatch in Vrå, the Chinese

AQSIQ delegation was shown

around the hatchery plant, and

DanHatch shared its veterinary

program with the Chinese

delegation.

The day-one birds hatched at the

plants are moved to broiler breeding

farms which grow the chickens to 36

days old for slaughterhouses. During

the visit to Rokkedahl Kylling,

DVFA’s veterinary office in the

north region introduced the Chinese

delegation to their recent case of

managing low pathogenic avian

influenza found in a local farm

raising game birds.

The Chinese inspectors’ visit to the whole broiler production value chain ended with a guided tour around the

Lantmännen Danpo where Rose Poultry also made an introductory presentation to the inspectors.

After the delegation was back in Copenhagen from Aalborg, the inspectors were shown around the National

Veterinary Institute DTU, the national reference laboratory.

The closing meeting among the Chinese

inspectors, DVFA and the Danish

Agriculture & Food Council took place

on the 13th of December where the

Chinese inspectors gave a positive

evaluation of the whole training

program. Later, a report on the training

program in Danish poultry production

will be drawn up and submitted to

AQSIQ in Beijing for the consideration

of allowing market access of Danish

poultry products to China.


7

News

As the first action after the “Memorandum of

Understanding between the National Health and

Family Planning Commission of the People´s

Republic of China (NHFPC) and the Ministry of

Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of The Kingdom of

Denmark On Cooperation of Food Safety” was

signed during the visit of the Danish Minister for

Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Karen Hækkerup to

China in November 2013, the China-Denmark

Roundtable on Dairy Products and Dairy

Ingredients was held on the 12th December 2013 at

the Danish Embassy in Beijing.

Officials and experts from National Health and

Family Planning Commission, China National

Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, Danish

Dairy Board, Arla Foods amba and Arla Foods

Ingredients amba attended the event.

The roundtable meeting started with the

introduction of “clean-up” project on food safety

standards in China by CFSA. From the Danish

side this was followed by an introduction to the

regulation of dairy products and dairy food

ingredients in Denmark/EU by Danish Dairy

Board.

A series of questions and issues relating to this

were discussed during the meeting. Both Chinese and Danish officials and experts were very open to sharing

knowledge on categorization and standards formulation of dairy products, dairy analog products and dairy

ingredients.


8

News

Invited by Danish Veterinary and Food

Administration (DVFA), three Chinese officials from

AQSIQ visited Denmark during the 4th -11th of

January 2014 on the topic of pet food export from

Denmark to China. At the opening meeting of the

visit, DVFA official veterinarians and experts

introduced the organization, official control system

in pet food production, the animal health status,

relevant regulation and legislation of feed hygiene

and animal by-products, approval and registration of

feed establishments.

Accompanied by DVFA veterinarian officer, the

Chinese official delegation visited and inspected four

Danish pet food establishments. The Chinese experts also visited one of the DVFA national laboratory in

Ringsted and got to know the responsibilities, services, analytical capacities of the DVFA national laboratories in

both Ringsted and Aarhus. During the closing meeting on Friday 10 January, based on the drafts prepared by

AQSIQ, DVFA and AQSIQ discussed the protocol and health certificate regarding pet food export from

Denmark to China.

The official inspection report from AQSIQ is expected to be delivered to the Danish side during spring, and the

final agreement of the protocol and health certificate will be further communicated between DVFA and AQSIQ

through the coordination by the Trade Council.


9

News

Danish exports of food and agriculture to China and Hong Kong reached just over 17 billion DKK from

November 2012- October 2013, which is a growth of 27.7 % compared to the same period last year. The total

exports from November 2012-Oktober 2013 reached 31.2 billion DKK, which is a growth of 11.1% compared to

the same period last year. The agricultural and food exports accounted for 54.7% of the total exports from

Denmark to China and Hong Kong in this period.

The biggest export within food and agriculture is fur and skin, which takes up 73 % of the total food and

agriculture export. Meat products also continue to take up a high percentage of the food and agriculture exports

to China and Hong Kong with 12 %. Grains and feed is representing 4 % which is a large increase from the same

period last year. The export of live animals is continuingly increasing, although it is still a very small part of the

total food and agriculture exports.

Export numbers Nov. 2012-Okt. 2013 Export numbers Nov. 2011-Okt. 2012

Live animals 31636 Live animals 7956

Meat products 2052815 Meat products 1924248

Dairy and eggs 225076 Dairy and eggs 174415

Aquatic products 948363 Aquatic products 756873

Grains and feed 681741 Grains and feed 371544

Fur and skin 12369286 Fur and skin 9716790

Misc. 632988 Misc. 329211

Agricultural machinery 87537 Agricultural machinery 59291

Total 17029442 Total 13340328 * in 1000 DKK.

Live animals 0%

Meat products

12%

Dairy and eggs 1%

Aqautic products 6%

Grains and feed 4%

Fur and skin 73%

Misc. 4%

Agricultural machinery

0%

Food and Agriculture export nov. 2012 - Okt.2013


10

News

Since October the overall consumer price index has been declining slightly, although not as dramatic as the

food price index. The food index has been through a period of high growth since August 201,3but since its all-

year high in October the food prices have been diving. Chinese households allocate 22 % of their expenditures to

food, and thus approximately a fourth of the index is food.

The CPI for December 2013 has ended at the exact same level as that time last year. The CPI was 2.5 % year on

year in December 2013, down from 3 % in November. The food prices were at 4.1 % in December 2013, almost

the same as last year where it was 4.2 % in December 2012.

Source: China National Bureau of Statistics

The three month average of beef and mutton increased year on year with respectively 16.6 % and 12 %. From

January-May 2013, pork faced a deflation but has since then been increasing, although at a much slower pace than

previously. The three month average reaches 3.9 %, despite a mere 1.6 % in December. The prices of vegetables

and fruit are increasing steadily. Vegetables are up with 18.8% and fruits are up by 11.7 % in the three month

average. Grain has a fairly stable level and is at a level of 3.9 %.

Milk and dairy products has been continuously increasing throughout the year, and continues to do so in the last

three months of the year. In October eggs started a deflation for the first time in 2013 and continue to do so

throughout November and December, landing at a three month average of -2.2%.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Dec-12 Jan-13 Feb-13 Mar-13 Apr-13 May-13 Jun-13 Jul-13 Aug-13 Sep-13 Oct-13 Nov-13 Dec-13

CPI & food price index development, December 2012 - December 2013

Consumer prices (Y/Y) % Food prices (Y/Y) %

-5.0

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

3 months average food inflation October to December by category


11

News

Only a few months after representatives from the Chinese control authority WIT was on an inspection visit in

Denmark, Friland has now received permission to selling organic pork in China.

Throughout the past few years Friland

has had a minor export of organic

pork to Hong Kong, where the rules

for organic food are different, but with

the newly acquired permission Friland

will now be able to sell organic pork to

all of China – the world’s largest

market for pork.

CEO of Friland Henrik Biilmann

comments; “The high growth in China

combined with the Chinese’s large

consumption of pork makes it an interesting

market for Friland. At the same time, we

have an advantage through Danish Crown

who already has a sales network in China, so

this way we have a relatively good insight into

the market”.

Already in September last year, Friland signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the organic subscription,

Organic and Beyond Cooperation, about delivering organic pork and together with Export sales manager Marc

Ridout, Henrik Biilmann is planning another trip to China to follow up on the contract and meet with new clients.

The efforts to cultivate the Chinese market for organic pork are done in close collaboration with ESS-Food that is

permanently represented in China.


12

News

On the 19th of January, The Chinese government unveiled its first policy document for 2014, underscoring more

rural reforms and planning the development of modern agriculture. The document was titled “Deepening Rural

Reform and Promoting Agricultural Modernization”. 2014 constitutes the 11th year in a row that the "No. 1

Central Document", the central government’s first policy document of the calendar year focuses on agriculture,

food security and rural development.

The Party is – once again - looking to scientific and technological innovation to ensure self-sufficiency in food

based on the so-called "Three Rural Issues" (in Chinese "San Nong Wen Ti" i.e.: Agriculture, Farmer,

Countryside).

Topics relating to "Three Rural Issues" were addressed in "Central No. 1 Document" respectively from 1982-1986

(initial years of Reform and Opening up); in 2003 (by President Hu); in 2005 (enhance the productivity of

agriculture); in 2006 ("Construct Socialist New Countryside"), in 2007, in 2008 (improve farmer's income). In

2009 (continue to stabilise agri-production and improve farmer's income); in 2010 (coordinate the development

pace between city and rural areas); in 2011(water conservancy), 2012 (speeding up innovation and technology) and

2013 (scientific and technological innovation to ensure self-sufficiency in food)

Important principles of the 2014 No.1 Central Document:

1. To maintain small scale family management as the basis and in addition to allow other management types

(cooperatives, village self-governance etc.)

2. Traditional farming skills and modern material technology should complement each other

3. To consider more sustainability and the relationship between efficiency and high production and to focus

on sustainable and ecological utilization of resource in a coordinated manner.

4. To foster functional complementation of governmental protection and support on one side and the

market's role as a price maker

Concrete points raised in the 2014 No.1 Central Document:

- Food security – the 120 mio ha red line in land use

The document requests that China preserves its 120 million hectares of farmland, usually known as the "red line",

to assure certain self-sufficiency rate of staple food.

- Form a price mechanism of agricultural products

The document requests that China improves the pricing system for agricultural products. When market price goes

too high, consumers need to be subsided; when market prices go lower than target price, producers need to be

subsided.

- Market control on agricultural products

The document encourages China to diverse market participants with qualified qualifications to participate in policy

purchasing of bulk agricultural products.


13

News

- Agricultural subsidy

In areas where conditions permit, trial subsidy to producers will be developed according to actual grain

growing yields or production.

- Benefit compensation mechanism – traders / producers cooperation

Main sales areas are encouraged to invest in main producing areas to build raw material growing bases.

- Market system of agricultural products

China will construct pilot sites for charitable wholesale market of agricultural products.

- Land contract

The management right of contracted land will be able to be mortgaged for fund raising.

- Land expropriation system

In addition to compensating farmers for their expropriated land, government must provide reasonable protection

to farmers in aspects of housing, social security and vocational training.

- Construction land entering the market

The document encourages China to speed up the establishment of property right markets and added value

distribution system out of rural collective-managed land. "Housing land" should be promoted in a stable and

prudent manner keeping in mind the 120 mio ha red line.

- Agricultural insurance

The construction of fiscal-supported agricultural insurance for risk diversification and disaster insurance systems

should be sped up.

- Citizenship of migrated population

China is encouraged to reform the 'hukou system' implement residence permit system for migrant population.

- Agricultural fund

To establish a public agriculture fund to support agricultural policy and to promote the development of

community rural fund mutual aid organization.

- Rural governance

China will explore effective forms of setting up cooperatives and village self-governance

- Scientific & technological innovation

China will strengthen the national scientific & technological system in the field of agriculture.

http://dict.youdao.com/w/land/

http://dict.youdao.com/w/expropriation/

http://dict.youdao.com/w/system/


14

2013-12-06

BEIJING, Dec. 6 -- China's top agriculture official on Friday called for "comprehensive understanding" of the

land reform package outlined last month after various interpretations since the announcement prompted concerns

that the policy may go off track. Among the key reform decision publicized last month by the Communist Party

of China Central Committee, issues concerning rural reforms, including allowing the trading of some rural

construction land, have invited immediate readings from the public. "Some of those interpretations are

insufficient ... as there are certain restrictions for the policy," said Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu at a press

conference. He further clarified that construction land qualified for trade would not include that for housing,

farming and infrastructure purposes as some have suggested, and it will also be subject to certain planning and use

restrictions. "The policy intention is to increase farmers' property earnings, not to increase land supplies for urban

construction, nor to draw urban residents or commercial capital to the countryside to buy land," Han stressed.

In China, urban land is owned by the state and rural land is normally under collective ownership. While gradual

reforms since the 1980s saw the trading of urban land evolve into a vigorous property market that became a major

growth driver, land deals in the countryside remain largely static. Under China's land regulations, farmers have

rights to use, but cannot directly sell or mortgage land. It must first be acquired by a local government before

being used for development. The policy usually results in disputable land takings with meager compensation for

farmers, and for migrant workers who want to make a living in the cities, restrictions on land trading mean they

have to start afresh on their urban journey.

2014-01-26

BEIJING, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang on Sunday urged authorities in northeast China's

Heilongjiang Province to steadily construct an environment fit for modern agriculture. Efforts should be

coordinated and targeted at areas including standardization in allocating agriculture-related funds, development of

big-scale farming, mechanism improvement for the pricing of farm produce, as well as innovations to agricultural

businesses, he said.

Meanwhile, breakthroughs must be made in rural finance and agricultural insurance, Wang said during his

inspection tour Friday to Sunday to the province. During his stay, the vice premier also urged local logistics

companies to step up work in ensuring market supplies of fresh vegetables and other farm produce in the

province ahead of the Spring Festival, which falls on Jan. 31. Northeast China's Heilongjiang produces the most

grain of any province, with its annual yield accounting for almost 10 percent of the national total.

2013-11-26

BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities will standardize the breeding and raising of poultry and

livestock because husbandry-generated pollution has become a major problem in the countryside, according to a


15

regulation signed by Premier Li Keqiang. The regulation on preventing husbandry-generated pollution, which was

publicized on Tuesday, will take effect on Jan. 1. It is expected to help reshape the industry and prevent avian

influenza. Poultry and livestock production has been inconsistent with environmental protection in the country's

rural areas, according to a statement jointly released on Tuesday by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State

Council, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Agriculture.

The worsening rural environment can be largely blamed on the expansion of poultry husbandry factories, said the

statement. The level of decontamination of husbandry waste remains low and this has led to wasted resources and

environmental pollution, it said, adding that the industry has become the nation's major source of agricultural

pollution. The regulation orders municipal and county governments to make plans to build facilities to

comprehensively utilize the wastes and safely dispose of them. In heavily polluted regions, some poultry farms

may be relocated or shut down. The regulation requires local authorities to provide incentives to centralize and

standardize development of husbandry, and vowed to support recycling and decontamination of waste.

It also orders that untreated waste should not be released directly into the environment. Meanwhile, poultry and

livestock farms must build facilities to store waste, treat sewage, and to process manure and the methane

produced from waste resources, under the regulation.

2013-11-26

BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- China aims to cultivate 800 million mu (53.33 million hectares) of high-standard

farmland by 2020, said an economic planning official on Tuesday. China will invest 1,000 yuan (164.1 U.S. dollars)

to 2,000 yuan per mu to increase yields by an average of 100 kg per mu, said the official with the National

Development and Reform Commission, citing a recently-approved national plan.

China's State Council has approved a national plan for high-standard farmland construction, setting a goal of

cultivating 400 million mu in high-standard farmland by 2015 and a total of 800 million mu by 2020. The soil of

the farms will be richer in organic content and less contaminated, according to the plan. The move will lay a

foundation for guaranteeing agricultural product supply in China, said the official.

2014-01-06

As food scandals mount, companies make risky move into unfamiliar field to capitalise on demand for safer

alternatives. It has been a four year-journey - one marked by mockery and doubt - for internet pioneer NetEase to

bring its first pigs to market. You read that correctly - pigs. The mainland internet pioneer is one of a growing

number of companies better known for their manufacturing or online commerce sites that are dabbling in

agriculture. Growing public despair over a never-ending parade of food scandals - plus an eye for a commercial

opportunity - has prompted these successful businesses to undertake what some might regard as risky, even

reckless, adventures outside their areas of expertise. The latest company seeking to get some dirt under its nails is

LeTV, the online video portal in Beijing. Having already expanded into a conglomerate involved in not only

filmmaking but also television manufacturing and wine trading, the company recently leased a 200-hectare farm in

Linfen , Shanxi .

There, it will grow organic grapes, vegetables, flowers and seedlings using what it calls ecological farming

methods. It also bought a cluster of villas to develop an "ecological manor". Li Rui , the CEO of Beijing Wangjiu

Electronic Commerce - the LeTV subsidiary that is managing the project - said the company saw opportunities

amid concerns about food quality and safety, and the lack of trustworthy domestic brands. "The situation now is

that everyone - rich or poor- has no idea whether cooking oil or flour or other foodstuffs are safe," he said. "Safe,


16

better-quality food is what all Chinese hope for." For some big players, such moves have seen quick results.

Lenovo, the world's largest maker of personal computers, set up its horticultural subsidiary, Joyvio, in 2012. It has

already become China's largest producer and distributor of blueberries and kiwi fruit. Organic oranges grown by

former "Tobacco King" Chu Shijian , the owner of Yunnan Hongta, have been selling well online during the past

year. Chu, now 85, was jailed for life in 1998 for corruption but was given medical parole in 2002 - the year he

planted the orchard that made him a millionaire anew.

Wangjiu's Li, meanwhile, was not expecting an early payback: "Agricultural investments have long return periods

and bear high risks". To spread the risk, he diversified the operations. "We're doing it in a different way -

combining other types of business to make it sustainable with high-added value," he said. Wei Guofeng , a

Shanghai-based researcher and "new agriculture" advocate, said modern farming was quite challenging for

computer makers or online retailers as biotechnology was totally new to them. "The biggest challenge is logistics:

how to get your product, something with neither a concept nor brand, to the consumers' table, in your own way,"

he said. "It's not just about growing the produce, but storage, sales, and how to build the brand."

Meanwhile, NetEase released a statement last month explaining why its farm venture has yet to bring home the

bacon. "We overestimated ourselves, and … underestimated the problems in pig-raising", it said. "Agriculture is a

brand new field for NetEase, and managing a complicated supply chain is not what an internet company is good

at," it said, adding that its difficulties ranged from selecting the farm's location, the best livestock, managing the

waste and smell, and dealing with a record heat wave in Zhejiang , where the farm was located. The farm had only

400 pigs so far, of which only about 100 were expected to be ready for slaughter in the near future. Xu Feng, the

company's public relations manager, described the venture as a "public welfare project that NetEase is serious

about". "[We] hope our creative approach will bring some new ideas to the whole industry," Xu said.

Professor Du Xiangge , who leads China Agricultural University's Research Centre of Organic Agricultural

Technology, said that despite the companies' varying results, the trend of innovative investment in agriculture was

a good sign, both for environmental protection and food safety. "These companies have foundations, technology

and other resources," he said. "Such 'positive energy' should be encouraged."

2014-01-06

Seven held in Guangdong province after authorities raid illegal abattoir in latest food safety scandal to hit the

country. Seven people in China's southern Guangdong province have been held over claims they injected dirty

pond water into lamb to increase its weight and raise its price, state television reported in the latest food scandal

to hit the country. The suspects slaughtered up to 100 sheep a day at an illegal warehouse, pumping bacteria-

ridden water into the meat before it was sold at markets, food stalls and restaurants in cities such as Guangzhou

and Foshan, China Central Television (CCTV) said in a three-minute report. China has been hit by a number of

food safety scandals, from deadly chemical-laced dairy products to recycled "gutter oil" used for cooking. Last

week, Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, apologised after a Chinese supplier of donkey meat snacks was

found to have mixed fox meat into the product.

Authorities raided the illegal lamb meat abattoir in Guangdong at the end of December, finding around 30

carcasses injected with water, 335 live sheep, forged inspection stamps, and equipment to inject water into the

meat, the report showed. Each sheep was pumped with up to six kilogrammes of water just after being

slaughtered, to add extra weight. Close to 40% of Chinese people think food safety is a "very big problem", the

Pew Research Centre said in a 2013 report. This has affected Chinese firms, from milk powder makers to meat

producers, and boosted their international rivals.


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Late in December, China said it would tighten milk powder rules in a move to boost confidence in domestic

producers and allay long-standing fears around food safety in its $12.4bn (£7.6bn) infant formula market. KFC

parent Yum Brands, McDonald's, French grocery chain Carrefour and other global firms have been caught up in

food safety scares in China.

2014-01-21

Source reveals Rotherham council investigation into unfit poultry did not lead to prosecutions over related

'ponymeat' from China. British authorities were aware that tonnes of condemned horsemeat was being imported

for use by suspected fraudsters as long ago as 1998 but failed to investigate the criminal networks involved fully

for lack of resources, the Guardian has learned. Over 15 years ago, environmental health officers from Rotherham

council investigating a conspiracy in which hundreds of tonnes of unfit poultry meat was recycled in to the human

food chain, discovered that regular shipments of around 20 tonnes each of frozen "ponymeat" from China had

been arriving at UK ports for months.

The horsemeat consignments had been condemned for the human food chain by the Chinese authorities but

could have been used legally to make petfood, according to a source involved with enforcement. However a paper

trail showed the horsemeat going in to cold stores licenced for the human food chain rather than for petfood and

then disappearing in a separate suspected fraud, the source said. A spokesperson for Rotherham council

confirmed that at the time it had investigated "significant concerns relating to a wide range of food stuffs,

including poultry, 'ponymeat', red meats, fish and frozen vegetables". Convictions were secured over the poultry,

but no one was charged in the other suspected cases.

The chain of brokers and cold stores through which the horsemeat was passing overlapped with a criminal chain

in which condemned poultry meat that was green with slime and covered with faeces was being cleaned up with

chemicals, repacked and relabelled with faked official health marks and then moved in to the human food chain,

the source said. The fraudulently mislabelled chicken and turkey was sold across the UK to food manufacturers,

schools and retailers including the discount supermarkets Netto and Kwik Save. FSA and police investigations

into the 2013 horsemeat scandal have uncovered a similar pattern, in which imported horsemeat passing through a

system of brokers and cold stores appears to have been repacked and relabelled with faked official health marks as

beef, the Guardian has been told, although they have not proved where exactly the fraud of mislabelling took

place. In the previous Rotherham case, three men were found guilty of selling unfit poultry for human

consumption at Hull crown court in December 2000.

According to an enforcement source, at the time officers warned the central authorities, including the Food

Standards Agency when it was newly formed in mid-2000, that the fraud was the tip of an iceberg of meat-related

crime they could see reaching in to many other areas across the country. Another case in Derbyshire in 2000

found unfit poultry being bleached and recycled to over 1,000 food manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers all

round the UK. A series of meetings are said to have been held at the FSA with local authority officers at which

the ponymeat and poultry frauds were discussed. But the significance of the horsemeat was not understood.

Enforcement of meat regulation largely falls to local authorities and Rotherham council's budget was being

severely strained by what had become a major criminal investigation costing it over £500,000.

A spokesperson for Rotherham council said that in the 1998 investigation it was decided that the weight of

evidence made a prosecution more likely to be successful in the case of the recycled poultry meat rather than the

other suspected frauds including horsemeat. "The authority co-operated fully with the other agencies involved in

the prosecution," she said. The council no longer has full records for the period however. A spokesman for the

FSA said the agency no longer had any records of meetings held by the relevant enforcement officials for that


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period either and so could not comment either to confirm or deny whether the horsemeat problem had been

discussed with it.

The information about the case from 1998 comes a year after the beginning of the horsemeat scandal when the

Food Safety Authority of Ireland first revealed the results of a study that found undeclared horse in beefburgers

from Tesco, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl. So far only one British horse abattoir has been charged with technical

breaches of the food regulations but there have been no prosecutions for fraud relating to the scandal in either the

UK or Ireland. Measuring the scale of food crime in the UK has now been made a key priority for the team tasked

by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to review the horsemeat scandal. Professor Chris

Elliott from Queen's University in Belfast's Institute for Global Food Security, who is leading the review, told the

Guardian that food crime had become "endemic" in the UK. He believes that risks are now so great that he has

recommended that a new specialised police force be set up to tackle it. His interim report last month described a

case of large-scale meat fraud in 2005 which was another "missed opportunity". Shipments of suspicious poultry

meat from Asia led to raids on a cold store in Northern Ireland where a large supply of forged health marks

purporting to come from a variety of meat plants across the EU were found that were the tools of a repacking and

relabelling scam in which petfood was recycled as fit for human consumption. But at the time there was no

capacity for the major criminal investigation justified by such leads into food crime networks.

Elliott said criminals involved in food crime were still likely to go undetected, and even if detected unlikely to be

successfully prosecuted: "Horsegate was not a one-off; fraud is endemic in food and is likely to get worse because

of the complexity of chains and the economic climate. The focus of regulators and industry has been safety, and

fraud has not been given the priority is should have been." He called for urgent change to policy over food crime,

adding that "the complexity of the criminal network involved in the horsemeat fraud will make it extremely

unlikely that those who perpetrated the crime will be successfully prosecuted".

2014-01-11

BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- State Councilor Wang Yong has urged efforts to intensify market supervision and

ensure products' safety for the upcoming shopping spree ahead of China's traditional spring festival holiday

During a two-day tour of central China's Henan Province on Friday and Saturday, Wang visited local markets,

food processing enterprises and inspection and quarantine points for imported and exported goods. He said that

the quality and safety of goods is closely related to the public's interests and that supervision departments should

strengthen supervision and maintains market order. "Officials in quality supervision departments at all levels

should bear zero tolerance to any products' safety problem," the state councillor added.

2014-01-21

Rather than boast about ever-rising harvests, Beijing now appears determined to concentrate on improving the

quality of agricultural production as pollution, toxic farmland and tainted produce become pressing national

concerns. This year's so-called No1 Central Document, which is jointly issued each January by the Communist

Party's Central Committee and State Council and traditionally concerns rural development, devoted an entire

chapter to environmentally-friendly agriculture and a paragraph to ensuring food safety.

In years past, policymakers would only set aside a few scant sentences one of these issues, said professor Zheng

Fengtian of Renmin University, who closely follows the annual document. "In the past we focused too much on

the quantity of production, but now none of us would want bigger output if it meant greater pollution and

questionable safety," Zheng said. Official statistics showed the mainland harvested 602 million tonnes of grain last


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year, making it the 10th straight year of growth. This year's directive called for the "strictest food safety

supervision of the whole system".

The quality of farm produce and food safety would be monitored, appraised and improved as needed. It also

called for greater efforts to reverse the effects of pollution and contamination on farmland, make more efficient

use of arable land and water, and start some pilot soil restoration schemes. About 3.3 million hectares of the

country's farmland is too polluted for cultivating crops, according to the government's second land survey, which

was released last month. Liu Fujiang, an agronomist at Beijing's Anbound Consulting, said: "The use of fertilizer

and pesticides has grown faster than the growth in grain production, an issue we raise every year." Research

indicated that serious land degradation was widespread, Liu said: "For example, in areas with degraded soil, trees

just stop bearing fruit." The directive also touched on other major issues discussed at top-level meetings late last

year, including expanding rural land reforms, improving food security, and encouraging innovation in rural

finance.

Professor Zhu Qizhen of the China Agricultural University said a shortcoming of the document was to allow local

governments to allocate farmland to villages as a collective entity, not to individual households as some had

sought. "It means that a village owns some land, and a villager is told that he has a share of it, but where his share

is located is unclear," he explained. He believed this was creating hidden risks, because "in this case, when a plot

of land is polluted, it's hard to find the person responsible, or when a dispute over land sales emerges, it causes

confusion", he said.

2014-01-23

BEIJING, Jan. 22 -- Arable land contaminated by heavy metals across China will be withdrawn from agricultural

production, said a senior Chinese agricultural official on Wednesday. Agricultural land with high levels of heavy

metals will no longer be used, said Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the central agricultural work leading team, the

top agriculture authority. Farm land near river sources, especially drinking water sources, will also retreat from

production if use of fertilizers and pesticides may cause pollution, he added. China will start pilot restoration of

contaminated farmland this year, according to "No.1 Central Document", the first policy document of 2014,

issued on Sunday.

A comprehensive plan to address prominent agricultural and environmental obstructions to sustainable

development is also in the pipeline. The "No.1 Central Document" stressed improvement to the national food

security system. In recent years, excessive use of fertilizer, pesticides and plastic film combined with industrial

heavy metal and chemical pollution, have hindered the sustainable development of agriculture, said Zheng

Fengtian, an agriculture professor at Renmin University of China. Excessive and improper use of resources has

also affected food safety, he added. China has an estimated 50 million mu (3.3 million hectares) of moderately or

severely polluted soil, most of which is in developed and grain-producing regions, said Wang Shiyuan, vice

minister of land and resources in December.

The polluted areas account for about 2 percent of total arable land which stands at some 2 billion mu. Every year,

some 12 million tonnes of grain are polluted by heavy metals in the country, according to the Environmental

Protection Ministry.

China ranks first globally in total fertilizer use, and use of chemical pesticides is much higher than the world

average. With a population of 1.3 billion, China has a great interest in food security and safety. Grain output was a

record high at over 600 million tonnes last year. Around 90 percent of the grain was rice, wheat and corn.

However, agricultural development cannot be at a cost to the interests of future generations, said Zheng. On the


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one hand, supplies of agricultural produce must be guaranteed. On the other, the quality of agricultural products

should also be ensured, according to Zheng.

In the past few years, a number of heavy metal contamination incidents have been reported across China. In May

last year, excessive amounts of cadmium, a carcinogen, was detected in rice products in southern Guangzhou city.

Most of the toxic rice came from central Hunan Province. Due to lax supervision and poor management, river

pollution by industrial waste is common. In some rural areas, farmers irrigate their crops with water polluted by

untreated waste discharged from plants. The treatment of seriously polluted land needs a lot of time, investment

and technology. China invested 9.7 billion yuan (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the past three years to tackle heavy

metal pollution and closed more than 1,000 factories, Wu Xiaoqing, vice minister of environmental protection,

said in March last year.

Some traditional farming methods, such as the use of organic fertilizers, can be promoted for sustainable

development, said Zhang Hongsong, an agricultural expert in Chongqing. Agricultural production standards in use

of fertilizers and farming models can also be imposed for rehabilitation of land. The areas of farmland in need of

rehabilitation occupy just a tiny part of the total arable land, and will not affect output or prices, said Zheng.

2014-01-26

SHANGHAI, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese provincial governments are quickly empowering local food safety

watchdogs in line with the requirements of the central government to prevent food scandals. Since the China

Food and Drug Administration was launched during the cabinet restructuring of last March to supervise the full

process of food production, circulation and consumption, a primary mission of provincial governments has been

to correspondingly restructure their food safety monitoring mechanism.

During the reshuffle, the functions of quality inspection departments are intensified as they gain food safety

jurisdiction previously held by health as well as industry and commerce departments. To make sure the reshuffle

runs smoothly and efficiently, the China Food and Drug Administration has sent out work teams to various

provinces. While inspecting the work in central China's Hunan Province in mid-January, Liu Peizhi, vice minister

of the administration, urged provincial governments to complete the reshuffle as quickly as possible on the

premise that the restructured outfits could have sufficient resources to fulfill the mission of the administration.

The administration is yet to announce the progress of the nationwide restructuring. However, Li Hongyuan,

director of the food and drug administration of Xiamen City in east China's Fujian Province, was quoted by the

Xiamen Daily as saying that more than two-thirds of 31 provincial regions in the Chinese mainland have

completed relevant restructuring so far.

Yan Zuqiang, chief of the Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration, said that one goal of the

restructuring was to increase the number of grassroots inspectors. Describing the human resources structure of

the old monitoring mechanism as "olive-shaped," with the higher management on the top and grassroots

inspectors on the bottom largely outnumbered by middle management,Yan said that law enforcement at the

grassroots level has been very weak. After the restructuring, he said, the number of local grassroots inspectors in

Shanghai had risen to 1,700, representing the bulk of the city bureau's staff. Food safety has become a top

concern in China as a string of safety scandals, particularly the one in 2008 when melamine-tainted baby formula

caused the deaths of at least six infants and sickened 300,000 others, have crippled customer confidence. Shanghai

municipal legislator Xu Liping agreed that the weakness of food safety supervision was at the grassroots.

"The number of inspectors cannot be increased infinitely. The key is to improve their competency and work

style," said Xu. Zhao Renrong, deputy to the Shanghai People's Congress, the city's legislature, proposed that a


21

nationwide blacklisting system be established based on the credit records of food business managers. "Without

such a system, a business owner who breaks the law can easily run away from his problems by reopening another

shop under the name of his relative," said Zhao, also chief of the Tingdong Village Branch of the Communist

Party of China in Shanghai's Jinshan District. Although many places including Shanghai have started to

experiment with blacklisting lawbreakers, Liu Zhengguo, director of the enterprise credit management committee

of the metropolis, said that a nationwide credit system was badly needed to prevent lawbreakers continuing their

malpractice elsewhere in the country. "We must ensure no Chinese can afford to have a bad record in terms of

food safety in this country," he said.

Liu Boying, director of the Commission of Commerce in Hongkou District in Shanghai, suggested that digital

technologies should be widely used to strengthen certification of products' origins. For instance, consumers

should be able to learn the exact breeding information of aquatic products by scanning the label, said Liu, adding

that the biggest challenge was how to raise the enthusiasm of enterprises with certifications of origin. To solve the

problem, Shanghai has started legislation on compulsory certification of the origin of foodstuff, which may cover

pork, vegetables, aquatic products, grain crops, dairy and cooking oil, according to the municipality's food safety

supervision chief Yan Zuqiang.

2013-12-05

ROME, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) hailed China's contribution to

improving global food security via reducing poverty and chronic hunger, calling its cooperation with China over

past 40 years "fruitful." "The 114 million people that China has rescued from hunger since 1990 represents nearly

two-thirds of the total 173 million people lifted from food insecurity worldwide," FAO Director-General Jose

Graziano da Silva wrote in a signed article. "In 2013, the People's Republic of China and the FAO celebrates 40

years of a fruitful collaboration. This partnership has contributed to improving food security in China and in the

world," he said.

China, as one of the nations that committed to forming FAO in 1945, had achieved the first of the UN

Millennium Development Goals, namely, to halve the proportion of chronically hungry people between 1990 and

2015, Graziano da Silva said.

The absolute number of people experiencing chronic hunger in China has declined by at least 42 percent since

1990, from 272.1 million in 1990-92 to 158 million in the 2011-2013, he said. "These achievements by a country

with 20 percent of the world's population translate into a significant step forward in the fight against global

hunger," Graziano da Silva said. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist

Party of China had set forth a strategic plan for deepening agricultural and rural reform, he said.

"I am confident that, under this new leadership, China will achieve even greater success in its rural development

and will thus give an even greater contribution to world food security," Graziano da Silva said.

The director-general said FAO and China had enjoyed "fruitful" cooperation on investment projects, ecosystem

conservation and animal-disease surveillance in the past 40 years. China was using its technical expertise to

support food security and agriculture-related initiatives in 24 other countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the

South Pacific, through South-South Cooperation initiatives implemented with FAO, he said. Graziano da Silva

said the UN body had developed a proposal for a five-year FAO-China cooperation program to scale up the

impact of South-South Cooperation on food security and nutrition. According to the FAO chief, the war against


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hunger is "far from over." An estimated 842 million people still live with chronic hunger worldwide, while another

2 billion suffer serious nutrition-related problems.

2014-01-07

Imported food and agricultural products will remain a top priority for supervision by the country's quality

watchdog in 2014, a senior official said on Monday. Zhi Shuping, minister of the General Administration of

Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, made the call in the wake of more than 600,000 metric tons of

US corn being rejected in late 2013 for containing unapproved genetically modified materials. He said during an

annual work conference that the authority will strengthen its supervision of imported products that are daily

necessities, especially imported food and agricultural products. In 2013, the administration rejected 2,030

shipments of disqualified food products and detected 530,000 shipments containing a total of 4,509 pest species in

2013.

It also rejected 601,000 tons of imported corn from the United States during November and December after

detecting a genetically modified variety, known as MIR 162, which has not been approved by agricultural

authorities in China. The quarantine of animals and plants, hazardous chemicals, waste materials and nuclear

hazards in cargo will also continue to be key priorities. The watchdog will also focus on quality checks of

children's products, food-related products, textiles and clothing, electronics and e-commerce products. In order

to further enhance the supervision of imported food products, the administration will also begin drafting a State

Council regulation on imported food, according to Cao Dahai, deputy head of the legal affairs department with

the quality watchdog.

The current regulation on imported food was passed by the General Administration of Quality Supervision,

Inspection and Quarantine in 2012. "If the regulation is upgraded to State Council level, it will enable better

coordination between different government departments," he said. Zhi said 245 port quarantine checkpoints had

passed tests on quarantine capacity and technical standards by the authority in 2013, as part of efforts to

strengthen the supervision of imported food products, while 40 checkpoints have yet to pass the tests. Liu Yong,

an official with the food department of the Chongqing Entry Exit Quarantine and Inspection Bureau, said the

authority saw a major increase in the number of imported food products that failed quality tests in 2013, with 18

shipments disqualified.

The figure is a significant increase from 2012, when 12 shipments failed the tests. Most of the products that failed

contained food additives not approved in China or used labels that did not conform to Chinese standards. Some

of the rejected products were also past their expiration date or damaged during the transportation process, he said.

China's volume of imported food has grown at a yearly rate of 15 percent in the last five years thanks to a

prosperous online marketplace, Xinhua News Agency reported.

2014-01-12

China's "father of hybrid rice", Yuan Longping, says he is working with researchers on rice that has been

genetically modified - a controversial technology but one that might help the mainland meet its agricultural goals.

"GM is the future. We should not generalise about whether it is harmful," Yuan said in a video about food safety

posted recently on the news portal Tencent. But s urveys suggest that many Chinese consumers, like those


23

elsewhere, remain sceptical of GM foods, or at least believe they are entitled to know whether the food on their

dinner table uses the technology.

An online poll of about 900 people conducted by a Shanghai doctor showed that more than 40 per cent of

respondents had doubts about GM food, and 25 per cent believed it was unsafe. Dr Tao Nali, of the Shanghai

Municipal Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said the percentage of doubtful consumers should be

higher in reality because those who took the survey were mostly better-educated and were more open to the new

technology. In an earlier survey by the People.com.cn news portal in October, 91 per cent of respondents said

they would not consume GM food. The central government has launched a media campaign it hopes will promote

public understanding and acceptance of the new technology. But even some provincial governments are at odds

with the official policy. In March, the Gansu food and drug bureau ordered all food sellers across the province to

set up separate areas specifically for GM food, and that it be clearly labelled as such, making it the first local

government to issue such rules.

The Ministry of Agriculture did not reply to a request from the Sunday Morning Post for a comment on the

Gansu ruling. But the move was hailed by many internet users, who said such transparency was good for

consumers. Existing national regulations call for food packages to list any GM content, although there are no

standardised rules on how such information should be displayed. Zhu Zhen, deputy director of the Chinese

Academy of Sciences' Bureau of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, said people had asked him why, if GM food

was safe, it required special packaging. "I think it's because consumers should be given the right to make their own

decisions," said Zhu, who is an advocate of GM technology. "It's necessary to standardise packaging, but

unnecessary to display it in prominent positions."

The GM controversy would continue, he said, but the technology would eventually become popular, and China

should be prepared for GM rice. In 2009, the ministry authorised two varieties of GM rice developed by Zhang

Qifa , a Hubei professor, and allowed it to be grown in the central province. It was the first authorisation of GM

rice, the most important food staple to Chinese, and the news naturally triggered a large debate nationwide. The

"safety certificates" issued by the ministry for the two varieties are expected to expire in August. Xie Huaan, an

expert on rice breeding at the Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said China must embrace the world's best

technology for GM crops to avoid having others control it, leaving the nation at a disadvantage. "The study of

GM organisms is a big issue for the national seed industry," he said. "If we hadn't accepted GM cotton, today our

cotton market would belong to America." However, noting public concerns, the ministry has reiterated it will

"actively but prudently enhance the research and application of [genetically modified organisms} in agriculture".

Quarantine authorities refused entry of more than 600,000 tonnes of foreign GM corn last year, Xinhua reported.

Late last month, another shipment was found to contain an unapproved GM variety, MTR162.

At a press conference last month, the ministry's chief economist Bi Meijia said it had received applications for

authorisation for the variety from the agribusiness multinational Syngenta since 2010, but it was still assessing the

request. Yuan is widely credited with playing a key role in the increase of China's rice output from 300kg per mu

(4,500kg per hectare) in the 1970s to more than 900kg per mu in 2011. He accomplished this through developing

hybrid plants that are selectively bred by conventional means to breed desirable traits in their first generation. GM

technology instead uses artificial means to alter plant genomes, often by inserting genes from other organisms into

a plant's DNA to introduce traits not found naturally in the plant.

Proponents of GM technology see it as the best, and possibly only, way to feed a growing global population while

beating insects and plant diseases without excessive use of harmful chemicals. Its opponents argue, however, that

pests are already developing resistance to exotic organisms that have been released into the environment without

adequate testing. And, far from increasing the financial independence of farmer, they say the technology has been

used more to create proprietary technology monopolised by leading multinational agribusinesses. The issue has

been further complicated and polarised in the mainland, where environmental degradation is driving the quest for


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more efficient agricultural production. But continuous food scandals have also bred distrust about food and drug

safety.

2013-12-04

It has been announced today that the UK and China have agreed a £45m pig semen export deal. That's a figure

not to be sniffed at. Selling our pigs' semen to the world's biggest pig producer would be a boost to British

exports and good for our country's economy. What isn't touched on in coverage of the deal is the welfare aspect.

What conditions will the resulting pigs be kept in, in China? It raises the ethical discussion that comes up time and

time again: just because we can do something, does that mean we should? The reason China is so interested in

British pigs, among other foreign semen and breeds, is simple economics: our pigs grow faster, have a lower fat-

to-meat ratio and higher reproduction rates than their Chinese counterparts. UK breeders have sows that could

produce more than 30 piglets each year, while Chinese sows bear fewer than 16. It takes approximately a year for

native Chinese pigs to reach slaughter-weight. Our pigs take just five months. China's rapidly growing urban

middle-class has developed a taste for pork and demand for the meat is soaring.

What's not to like? Well, the selection of modern pig breeds has led to a number of welfare issues, including rapid

growth rates putting pressure on the heart and lungs to keep up, more competition at the udder in increased litter

sizes and leaner animals having a predisposition to tail biting. Add to this the fact that sows in China are almost

certain to be kept in stalls. It is unacceptable that we will be exporting pig semen to a country that keeps pigs in

conditions that are illegal in the UK. In addition, the abattoirs in China hugely vary in slaughter standards, but

overall standards are far lower, as China has little animal welfare legislation. Ultimately, this export deal is designed

to increase productivity, which doesn't factor in the welfare of the millions of animals in question, and it is not a

long-term solution to feeding the world. Enough food is already produced to feed the world, but the problem is

that much of it is wasted. The answer is not to continually intensify animal agriculture, confining livestock to

factory farms. This only makes the problem worse and adds to the waste we already generate.

Some might suggest we should come up with a solution as opposed to just pointing fingers. In order for me to put

my proverbial money where my mouth is, Compassion in World Farming has just launched our Good Pig award

programme in China. Our aim is to persuade companies to step up their animal welfare standards. I hope we will

help producers to benefit the lives of pigs and other farm animals in ways that also makes for improved food

quality and better business. We need to encourage everyone, be it in China or here at home, to curb food waste,

overconsumption of meat and intensive farming. Eating less, but better meat from animals reared in higher

welfare conditions would have a significant impact on consumer health and animal welfare. It is healthier, less

expensive and sustainable. Can we create a £45m to work on that?

2013-12-16

A Beijing court ruled on Monday that China's top health authority does not have to reveal details of a 2010

conference in which it set news quality standards for milk. Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court dismissed an

administrative appeal filed by Zhao Zhengjun, a consumer from Henan province, who had requested that the

National Health and Family Planning Commission release details of the conference, including the contributions of

various experts. The new standards set in 2010 lowered the permissible protein content of milk while increasing


25

the permissible bacteria level from no more than 500,000 bacteria per milliliter to 2 million, according to the

plaintiff.

The new standards were made public after the 2010 conference, but the commission did not release details of the

discussions that took place. During the court hearing, Zhao said that such procedural details are of interest to

consumers, and that the public has a right to know how the standards are set and what suggestions were made by

experts. "I'm a consumer. I need to know whether or not the food I eat every day is safe," said Zhao. "But in our

country, information held by government departments is kept hidden from the public, which is why I filed the

lawsuit."

"I always keep my eyes on the disclosure of administrative information, and I just want to know why the standards

are different from before." Zhao said that the health commission, as the government department responsible for

setting standards and overseeing the food industry, has an obligation to explain how and why the standards were

determined. He said the proceedings of the commission should be made public voluntarily. "I don't know why the

authority has always refused to publish these details, because what I want to know is not a national secret, nor

does it fall under the State Council rules for the disclosure of government information," he added.

However, the authority said that the publication of the proceedings of the 2010 conference has nothing to do with

the issue of public rights to information. "The summary document from the conference doesn't show the final

results for the standard. Instead, it is just the procedural information from the conference," said Zhang Xudong, a

representative of the commission. "When we made the draft of the standards, we solicited opinions from the

public for about two months. In other words, we've made the information available to the public and maintained

transparency in our work from the beginning."

Under the current Food Safety Law, procedural information such as conference summaries cannot be disclosed to

the public, according to a lawyer for the commission. A number of experts were asked to explain the new

standards to the public as soon as they were set, the lawyer added. But Zhao said that not enough information has

been made public, "which is why I hoped the authority would publish the summary document." Long Fei, the

judge for the appeal case, supported the commission's position, identifying the summary document as internal

information and not suitable for public disclosure. Publishing such material could prevent experts from sharing

their views in future, causing them to keep vital information to themselves, he said. After Monday's ruling was

announced, Zhao told China Daily that he will appeal to a higher court, adding that his aim is to push the

government to become more transparent in its work.

2013-12-02

BEIJING, Dec 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Shanghai will suspend live poultry trading from January 31, the first day of the

Chinese Lunar New Year, until April 30 to prevent a recurrence of the bird flu. The suspension will be an annual

feature for the next five years, dependent on the evaluation and warning of the bird flu and the seasonal onset,

according to a joint statement issued by the Shanghai Agricultural Commission and the Shanghai Commerce

Commission. All the designated wholesale and retail markets will be banned from trading in poultry and violators

face hefty fines between 10,000 yuan (US$1,641) and 30,000 yuan under a new rule that took effect in June.

Unlicensed street vendors who sell live poultry during the period will be punished by urban management teams.

Poultry from other cities and provinces must be sent to designated slaughterhouses and cannot enter the local

market directly, it said. Residents are being urged to report any illegal trades of live poultry to market watchdogs

on hotline 12315 of the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau, 12331 of the Shanghai Food


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and Drug Administrative Bureau, 12316 of the Shanghai Agricultural Commission, and city’s urban management

at 52921111 or 63166666.

In April this year, all live poultry markets were shut down in Shanghai after 43 people died of H7N9 bird flu in

China. The ban was lifted in June and about 110 poultry markets returned to business. Experts have said there

was a possibility of H7N9 recurrence and suggested a complete ban on live poultry business. China’s mainland has

reported five cases of H7N9 this autumn — three of them in neighboring Zhejiang Province. The mainland has

reported 134 cases by the end of September, with 45 fatalities, according to the National Health and Family

Planning Commission.

2013-12-11

GUANGZHOU, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Samples taken from two live poultry markets in south China's Guangdong

Province have tested positive for H7N9 bird flu, the provincial health authority confirmed on Wednesday. Three

samples from the two live poultry markets, both in Shenzhen, tested positive, said the Health Department of

Guangdong Province. On Tuesday, a H7N9-control team collected 70 samples from 13 live poultry markets in

Shenzhen.

The three samples were taken from a chopping board, chicken excrement and tools for removing feathers.

Guangdong health authorities warned the public to be aware of H7N9 transmission risks. China on Tuesday

confirmed three new cases, with two in Hong Kong and one in east China's Zhejiang Province. Local authorities

have tightened prevention measures. The Chinese mainland has so far reported 140 H7N9 cases, including 87

patients who have recovered.

2014-01-05

GUANGZHOU -- Samples of goose meat taken from a Guangzhou market in south China's Guangdong

Province have tested positive for H7N9 avian influenza. Two goose meat samples and one sewage water sample

from two poultry booths in a wet market in Zengcheng, a satellite city of Guangzhou, tested positive, Guangdong

Provincial Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) confirmed on Sunday. "It's serious that the water

sample test is positive, because it means all the birds inside coops have the possibility of being infected with

H7N9 avian influenza. The longer they stay in the coops, the risk of being infected rises," said Yang Zhicong,

deputy chief of the Guangzhou municipal CDCP. The city government of Guangzhou, the provincial capital, is

tracking the poultry source. The market was shut down on Saturday for three days so disinfection and cleaning

can take place.

Meanwhile, 17 sales people working in nine poultry booths in the market are undergoing a week-long medical

observation. So far, they have shown no signs of being infected with the bird flu, said Yang. Bird flu, or avian

influenza, is a contagious disease of animal origin caused by viruses that normally only infect birds and, less

commonly, pigs. It can be fatal to humans. Six human cases of H7N9 bird flu have been confirmed in Guangdong

Province since August. None are from Guangzhou. "According to expert assessments, Guangdong faces an

extremely high risk of sporadic human H7N9 infections in winter and next spring," said Zhang Yonghui, head of

the provincial CDCP. "The cases may occur at any time across the province and the Pearl River Delta region

requires special attention," Zhang said.

The province has urged local agricultural and forestry authorities to strengthen daily management, tests and

disinfection of live poultry markets and crack down on illegal wildlife trade. Antiflu drugs such as Tamiflu should

be used within 48 hours by those who show flu symptoms such as fever and have been in contact with poultry,


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said Chen Yuansheng, director of the provincial health and family planning commission. The Chinese mainland

has reported more than 140 human cases of the deadly virus since it emerged in March, including 45 fatalities.

2014-01-05

GUANGZHOU, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- An environmental sample taken from a live poultry market in south China's

Guangdong Province has tested positive for H7N9 bird flu, the provincial health authority announced on Sunday.

The sample was collected from the Nanchao Market in Doumen District of Zhuhai City on Saturday, according to

the provincial health and family planning commission.

The Guangdong Provincial Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) confirmed the result. Zhuhai

Municipal Health Bureau has urged local agricultural and forestry authorities to strengthen daily management,

tests and disinfection of live poultry markets. The local poultry markets have been suspended from business. Six

human cases of H7N9 bird flu have been confirmed in Guangdong Province since August 2013. None is from the

capital city of Guangzhou.

2014-01-24

HANGZHOU, Jan. 23 -- Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, announced Thursday that live

poultry trading in its main urban areas is halted as of Friday to help contain H7N9 bird flu infections. In a circular,

the city authorities ordered to disinfect live poultry markets in six districts and launched a widespread monitoring

over domestic fowl and birds in poultry farms, habitats of migratory birds as well as parks.

The government also banned the flying of carrier pigeons. Two districts in the suburbs of Hangzhou and Jinhua,

another city in Zhejiang, have halted live poultry trading earlier this week. On Thursday, five new human H7N9

cases were reported in Zhejiang, which has seen new H7N9 cases for 15 consecutive days.

The new cases brought the number of infections in the province so far this year to 37, the most among all regions

nationwide, according to the provincial health and family planning commission. The neighbouring city of

Shanghai will also halt live poultry trading from the Spring Festival, which falls on Jan. 31 this year, to April 30,

each year from 2014. The city reported two more deaths from the H7N9 bird flu, raising the toll from the deadly

virus to four so far this year, its mayor said Thursday, without giving further details. The city has confirmed eight

human H7N9 cases so far this year, Shanghai mayor Yang Xiong told a press briefing.

Human contractions of H7N9 have also been reported in the provinces of Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong. Li

Lanjuan, a leading researcher on bird flu at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, predicted China will see more

human H7N9 cases in the future as the virus tends to become more active during winter and spring. She

expressed concerns that the travel rush and mass slaughter of live poultry associated with the Chinese Lunar New

Year, a traditional occasion for family reunions, will increase the risk of H7N9 spreading.

2013-12-10

BEIJING, Dec. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- A new project “incubates” would-be farmers and teaches them to grow

unusual, heirloom and miniature veggies for high-end clients. Tan Weiyun reports. Watermelon as small as a

thumb, purple rapeseed, black potatoes and haricot beans more than 30cm long are among proud farmer Gao


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Ming’s “weird fruits and vegetables.” And they are making him rich. “See, the giant haricot bean even bigger than

cucumbers,” says the 40-year-old farmer entrepreneur of his experiment in growing big beans and unusual

varieties of produce for high-end customers. Gao is one of a growing number of new farmer entrepreneurs who

are cultivating miniature, rare and “new, fine-provenance” vegetables. The project is underway in Langxia Town

of Jinshan District. Some are heirloom vegetables. But prospective farmers, mostly university graduates, are also

being cultivated. The Jinshan project of incubating agricultural entrepreneurs has been named one of Shanghai’s

top 10 young entrepreneur projects, and the only one in agriculture. Around 90 types of vegetables are grown

commercially every year. Gao himself also grows 100 varieties experimentally. Sustainable farming methods are

used and the main customers are high-end hotels and restaurants. Farmers invite hotel chefs and restaurant

owners to visit, see and taste the produce and try different cooking methods. Based on feedback, more of the

chosen crops will be planted. The vegetables, many with traditional medical functions, include red lotus, black

yams, fruity white gourd, white cucumber and a range of tomatoes. In 2005, Gao retreated from the high-profit

construction industry and moved to suburban Jinshan District to become a farmer. He traded his suits and leather

shoes for work clothes and boots and rolled up his sleeves.

“I saw the opportunity in agriculture,” Gao says. “Today it’s clearly a wise decision.” In recent years, Jinshan has

been attracting young people to farming. Since 2005, family-style farms and associations of farmers have

developed; small plots have been consolidated and rented out to big farms. Gao was a pioneer. “I’m now a

farmer, but not an ordinary one,” he says. “What I’m doing is raising healthy foods in an environmentally friendly

way.”

His 100-mu (6.67-hectare) Gaolaozhuang (Gao’s Village) has developed new types of fruits, vegetables and

medicinal herbs, including fruity white gourd, black yams, and white cucumbers. His thumb-watermelon was

launched on the market this summer, and it was a huge success, selling for 160 yuan (US$26) per kilogram.

The farm gets more than 35,000 visitors every year, generating a sales volume of 6 million yuan (US$985,200).

Gao established an online business platform Tian Tou Pi (literally “bulk from the fields”), which receives around

90 orders every day. “This is an ideal business approach combining high-added value agricultural products and

modern, high-tech support,” he says.

So far, 26 farms in Jinshan are using the sales platform and by year’s end, sales are estimated to reach 10 million

yuan, a 50-percent increase over 2012. The success of Gao’s farm inspired the district government, which

encourages young entrepreneurs to start up their business in agriculture. “Modern agriculture is badly in need of

young people with skills and enthusiasm, but they are often short of money and lacking experience,” says Lu

Caihua, deputy director of the local department of human resources and social security. The district and Gao

worked together to establish the Gaolaozhuang Association of farmers as an incubator for young, inexperienced

growers. The association’s farm in Langxia Town provides everything: start-up funds, seeds, training, fertilizer,

mulch, irrigation, greenhouses and plastic sheds. It’s fully equipped for modern agriculture. Each entrepreneur can

rent 1,000 to 2,000 square meters at first for trial.

The growing process is guided, monitored and inspected by Gao’s expert team to guarantee quality, he says.

The products are then sold on Gao’s online platform and he deducts the cost of inputs from the final earnings.

After deductions, each farmers has a profit of around 30,000 yuan per mu (1/15 hectare) a year, which is high in

agriculture, he says. New types of vegetables have high added value, Gao says. He is confident of success.

“Everyone can learn if he takes farming seriously,” Gao says. “With this new approach, young farmers can learn

about agricultural business management and sales without taking any risk.”. According to Gao, the learning

process takes around a year and new farmers can grow at least four batches of different crops to get a general

understanding about roots, tubers, melons, fruits, leaves and buds, as well as marketing and sales, Gao says. The


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young farmers are mainly Jinshan locals with university degrees and some knowledge of agriculture. The project

has attracted many young people and seven have been selected so far.

“I hope more young people can join us, establish their own business and rejuvenate the agriculture industry,” Gao

says. “Maybe they will find broader prospects in agriculture than in being civil servants.” Farmer Wang Jianfeng,

who is in his early 40s, from Jiangzhuang Village, Caojing Town, is being “incubated.” His small farm of more

than a hectare is planted with thumb watermelons. There’s a three-month wait for orders. Seeds, techniques and

sales are all supported by Gao’s farm. The profit per mu is double that of traditional crops, Wang says. With five

crops every season, he can grow 40 crops a year for an annual income of 100,000 yuan.

The heirloom and special varieties bring high prices. Take purple rapeseed. Each mu produces around 2,500kg. As

it sells 24 yuan per kilogram, the output value of one mu can be 60,000 yuan.

The growth cycle of red lotus is only two and a half months and the average yield per mu can reach 3,00kg. Sold

at 33.60 yuan per kilogram, the output value can reach 100,000 yuan per mu once. Every year Gao’s R&D team

experiments with more than 100 types of vegetables, fruits and herbs. He can only fill 60 percent of his orders,

given the farm’s size and capacity, but he emphasizes that the size of the planting area is controlled to ensure high

quality for high-end restaurants and hotels. “We only plant healthful crops, which are very popular among high-

end clients,” he says.

2013-12-05

Worries about food safety have led people on the mainland to turn to imported goods or to plant vegetables on

their balconies to ensure the quality of their diet. Now some are even going as far as grinding their own cooking

oil. Three years ago after a series of scandals revealed that millions of tonnes of cooking oil was being recycled

and sold back to consumers, Cui Ronghua, a peanut exporter from the eastern port of Qingdao , decided to do

something about it. His children were already drinking baby formula bought from overseas and the family cooked

with imported olive oil.

"I know all about peanuts and sell some of the best to Japan and Europe. I thought, 'why can't I make the best oil

for my children's kindergarten'," Cui said. He spent 1.2 million yuan (HK$1.5 million) on an oil grinder, opened a

workshop, hired an elderly oil-grinding expert and visited about 30 similar manufacturers to learn about the

process. The first batch of oil was finally produced in December last year.

Cui publishes full details of the production process online so customers know the quality of his products is

assured. He also has the oil tested by quality controllers to safeguard standards. Some bottles branded under the

name Virtue Happiness are sold for as much as 75 yuan each online. Not everybody is producing oil on an

industrial scale, however. Oil pressers have also become popular kitchen electronic appliances at home with some

companies saying they are selling nearly 1,000 a month.

Li Ke, chairman of Foshan TenGuard Smart Tech, an oil presser maker, said sales of its products have increased

since they went on the market last year and a single store can sell 300 a day since a television programme ran a

feature on their popularity in September. Li said the product was a relatively new addition to the home appliance

sector and was popular in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Most customers were over 35, had high

family incomes, desired a good quality of life and had an interest in food safety and health, Li said.

Amy Bian, an accountant in Wuxi in Jiangsu province, spent more than 1,600 yuan on an oil presser and uses it to

make peanut oil. "I've been cooking with home-made peanut oil and it smells really nice," Bian said. The


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production process was fun and most importantly it ensured the oil was safe, she said. But Fan Zhihong, associate

professor at the China Agricultural University's College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, said home-

made cooking oil should only be considered when consumers were confident it was produced from safe, high-

quality raw materials. Oil and oilseed also needs to be stored carefully as the unrefined oil can become rancid

quickly through exposure to oxygen, and the seed may be contaminated by mycotoxins, which can be toxic to

humans at elevated amounts. "Since the safe quality of the raw form like this is not supervised or tested, it is not

allowed for sale as pre-packaged food and should be consumed as soon as possible," Fan said.

Home-made oil enthusiasts such as Bian are, however, confident about the safety and quality of their products.

"I choose the peanuts grown in the west of Liaoning province for their good quality," Bian said. "I control the

whole process and the flavour and nutrition is kept.''

2013-12-08

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's central authorities on Sunday published a regulation that explicitly ruled out

dishes containing shark fins, bird nests and wild animal products in official reception dinners. The document,

jointly issued by the general offices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State

Council, detailed regulations of the use of public funding on receptions by local authorities to receive visiting

Party or governmental officials. Shark fins, bird nests and products of rare wild animals are popular materials in

luxury dinners in China.

Officials on business tours should arrange their own meals according to relevant expenditure standards and the

local hosts are allowed to provide only one reception dinner if needed, the regulation said. The regulation said

cigarettes and up-market liquors are not allowed to be served at official dinners and such receptions should not be

held in private clubs or upscale places.

It is also prohibited to organize conference and activities at tourist attractions or commercial entertainment

venues and government funds should not be used to cover officials' personal recreational visits, according to the

documents. Moreover, officials below provincial level should not live in suite rooms on their business trips, it said.

Local hosts are also banned from giving cash, negotiable securities, souvenirs or local products as gifts for the

officials. The regulation reiterated the requirements that no welcoming ceremony, banners or carpets should be

arranged in receiving officials at airports and stations and the number of the officials' accompanists should be

strictly controlled. The use of government vehicles and police cars in reception activities should also be kept

within a reasonable level, it said.

Moreover, the regulation said public spending on official receptions should be listed as a separate item in the

authorities' budgets and relevant information should be made open for the public's supervision. Disciplinary and

supervisory agencies are told to strengthen supervision over the use of government funds on such activities and

officials who violated the rule should be held accountable.

In addition to simplicity and transparency, the document stated that traditions of relevant ethnic minority groups

should also be well respected. According to the document, the new rules are to promote frugality, oppose

extravagance and enhance the anti-corruption drive among Party and governmental authorities. The new

regulation will also be applied to state-owned enterprises, state-owned financial institutions and state-sponsored

organizations.

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