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A crisis in confidence in China's food industry emerged after melamine was found in domestically produced baby formula in 2008. The scandal sickened 300,000 babies and resulted in six premature deaths. Other stories of fake eggs, diseased pork, recycled oil, mislabelled meat and more have only led to more calls for industry reform.
President Xi Jinping says farm-industry technology may consolidate the country’s emergence as a world agricultural power and narrow the urban-rural gap.
Warnings against complacency are timely and reflect sustained efforts to improve food security at a time of floods and in the wake of a health crisis
China’s rulers have long seen the stable and sufficient supply of food as the most critical issue in maintaining political, social and economic stability.
China’s latest ban will wipe out wet markets, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. To avoid simply driving the problem underground, a whole-of-society approach is needed, for years to come.
Rising pork prices have put the spotlight on a rise in consumer inflation. But the bigger picture is one of waning demand and slowing economic activity.
Rocketing food prices make a mockery of Xi’s ‘Chinese dream’, threatening widespread discontent as a staple of the nation’s diet becomes out of reach to many
- With approval granted to genetically modified (GM) varieties of corn and soybeans, analysts are expecting China’s market to grow substantially in coming years
- Value could reach US$1 billion as gene-edited versions of staple crops replace low-yield peers as food, oil and animal feed sources
A video showing a butcher’s shop worker deboning raw meat with his mouth, and claiming the practice is a decades-old technique, has shocked and disgusted many people on mainland social media.
Seoul’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the local importer of Tsingtao have stressed that the factory in the video is not connected to beer South Korea imports. But this has failed to appease some consumers.
High-rise structures such as one in Ezhou, Hubei province, are becoming increasingly common across China and utilise the most advanced smart-farming technologies.
Ambassador Rahm Emanuel accuses Beijing, which has banned import of Japanese fish, of a double standard, saying China is fishing in the same waters.
Although there remain sceptics over the technology’s application in farming, China has sanctioned the use of genetically modified strains of corn and soybeans – two major crops – for commercial agriculture.
Japan’s foreign ministry said it would ‘strongly demand’ the withdrawal of import restrictions Russia introduced nearly two months after the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant started releasing waste water.
Chinese tourists in Japan are enjoying sushi and have brushed off concerns about the safety of Japanese seafood imports.
As Hongkongers get their head around a widespread ban on Japanese seafood, we look at how the city’s restaurant sector has been affected
Japanese fishing associations and groups in neighbouring countries have strongly opposed the release, and China immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood.
‘Many people won’t eat seafood’, an industry insider says of Chinese consumers, and the potential spreading of this mentality represents a ‘dangerous sign for the industry’.
Hebei, Jilin, Sichuan, Yunnan and Inner Mongolia will play a role in expanding a trial of genetically modified (GM) corn and soybeans amid China’s increased focus on food security.
Authorities will also ramp up efforts to test seafood caught in Hong Kong waters for radioactivity.
A joint submission to the IAEA by Moscow and Beijing said heating and then evaporating the water would be safer, but this option would be more expensive.
City authorities will also publish daily test results on other food imported from Japan, environment chief says.
Beijing says it is trying to ‘mobilise the public’ in a bid to exterminate the ‘rats’ and ‘moths’ – corrupt officials who put grain reserves and the nation’s food security at risk.
Consul-General Kenichi Okada and nuclear researcher Takashi Hibiki meet Hong Kong press to discuss IAEA report findings and clear up safety fears.
From technology to tumultuous trade ties, China is finding it a challenge to guarantee sufficient crop yields, but drastic measures are being taken across the country to shore up critical grains.
Unless China can sow a lot of luck this autumn and avoid inclement weather such as extreme heat and excessive rain, annual grain output will fall short of goals.
Alibaba’s Damo Academy is looking for a lead scientist in the field of seed breeding, among several other roles, as it seeks to develop the tech of particular interest to Beijing.
China’s customs agency says the plan to discharge treated nuclear-contaminated water from the 2011 disaster in Fukushima into the sea fails to fully reflect expert opinions, with authorities vowing to take all necessary measures to ensure consumer safety.
Experts call on Beijing to diversify seed imports, increase collaboration between universities and companies, and employ smarter breeding techniques to enhance food security.
Grain demand is rising across China, and internal and external pressures have emboldened leaders to take fresh measures, but critics question if enough is being done.
Mother Nature has been throwing a lot of extreme weather at China, resulting in floods and droughts that could intensify as the El Nino climate pattern threatens to make 2023 the hottest year ever, with major economic implications.
A disturbing video of a kindergarten worker washing children’s plates in a urinal trough taken by a horrified mother has shocked the Chinese public and forced local authorities to launch an investigation.
An investigation into a video showing what looks like a mouse head in a student’s meal at a college canteen failed to quell online speculation, as many rejected official claims it was part of a duck neck.
Huge emergency fund set up after prolonged rainfall damages crops across China’s wheat-production base amid efforts to ensure food security, and the impact could raise prices globally.
Provincial governors and party secretaries are told they must ‘shoulder the responsibility of food security’, as pressure from Washington and implications of the Ukraine war are straining China’s food supply.
Industrialisation and urbanisation have long taken a toll on Chinese agriculture, but aggressive acreage expansions are aimed at reversing the trend in the face of mounting threats to food security.
