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Prime piggies and Expo produce

By Xu Wenwen | May 12, 2010, Wednesday | Print Edition

HANGZHOU is a major farm produce supplier for the World Expo 2010 Shanghai, and more than 280 of the city's agricultural enterprises have passed strict Expo standards for food safety and organic quality.

Shanghai has imposed strict criteria for produce leaving agricultural areas in Hangzhou, 170 kilometers away, and for produce entering Shanghai to ensure food safety during the 184-day event.

The Hangzhou Agriculture Bureau has reported that more than 280 agricultural enterprises in Hangzhou are certified to offer farm produce during the Expo.

They will supply local specialties such as tea, bamboo shoots and soft-shelled turtles, as well as vegetables, fruits and meat.

To meet Expo standards, food must be pest-free and organic, meeting specific requirements.

As pork is the main meat on Chinese tables, pigs have been rigidly quarantined. All non-local pigs supplied to Shanghai must be from farms producing more than 10,000 fattened hogs annually. Every animal must have a quarantine inspection certificate from its place of origin.

Only nine pig farms among 40 candidates in Hangzhou have been certified so far to supply to Shanghai slaughterhouses.

One of them is Dongwan Breeding Co in Xiaoshan District, and its owner Zhu Yahong says the enterprise has taken great efforts to meet Shanghai's exacting food standards.

"It's an opportunity for us," says Zhu. "The price of our pigs may rise but customers will accept it as we have met Expo's strict standards."

Shi Zhengxiang, head of Shishi Ecological Farm selling organically raised poultry, thinks likewise.

His farm supplies nearly 40,000 fowl to Shanghai every year and is the only company in Hangzhou providing chickens, turkeys and ducks to the Expo.

The poultry is not cheap. The wholesale price of 30-40 yuan (US$4.40-5.86) per kilogram is much higher than the usual 15-20 yuan because the chickens are given only organic feed, not injected with hormones, and are free-range fowl. It takes longer for these chickens to mature than those confined and injected with growth hormones.

"More people will know our brand since it's chosen by Shanghai and the Expo, and customers will also understand why our products are worth the expense," says Shi.

Hangzhou


 

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