Food scares help China's nascent organic market

[Shakespeare]

Source: Reuters

Fish could give you cancer, snails meningitis and baby milk may kill your children -- barely a day goes by without some new food horror story in China.

This is helping drive sales in another, though still tiny, food sector in China -- organic produce.

But a loose regulatory framework and sometimes just plain confusion about what exactly constitutes organic food has proven to be a stumbling block, experts say.

"It's been a difficult start, but gradually there has become more of a domestic market, and I think it will take off in the next few years," said Paul Thiers, an associate professor at Washington State University.

"The food safety scares are a definite driver of people's desire to buy organic, and I think that's true in urban China as much as it is in other parts of the world," added Thiers, who is also a visiting professor at China Agricultural University.

China has 5.7 million acres of certified organic farmland, according to the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, although that is less than 1 percent of the country's total farmed land.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070527/hl_nm/china_health_organics_dc

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It's nice to see something positive coming out of the food scare. China is not evil--I wish more on DU understood that.

[pinto]

1. Interesting side story. Thanks for the post.

I think it may drive more consumers here in the US to local and/or organic growers, as well.

[sandnsea]

2. Who says China is evil?

Ignorance is dangerous whether it creates the pig lots we've got or the poisonous food China has. China has some serious environmental, labor and economic problems and they're created by the same people who create those problems here. I don't think anybody at DU misunderstands that.

[Shakespeare]

4. Oh, some certainly do.

And the same ones usually are a bit blindered about the similar problems we have here. I'm not suggesting it's a majority attitude, but some here most definitely do.

[StarryNite]

3. The Chinese people are not evil.

However, I'm not so sure about their government. They are on a power grab and they are winning. And * is playing right into their hands.

[Shakespeare]

5. Actually, it's been steadily moderating for over 15 years.

It's no longer a purely communist government, and the boom around cities like Shanghai and Beijing are helping that movement along. Are there still problems? Oh, absolutely (especially in the human rights arena). But too few people in this country have an understanding of just what's been going on on the other side of the Pacific.

And if you want to take the long view, the real changes began over 30 years ago when our government began to re-establish trade and diplomatic relations with them.

[candice]

6. I hope people can start community gardens...

I doubt it will be possible to rely on certification or stated organic status for produce in the current marketplace. Soil and water contamination issues are also a factor. Chinese value good food. Paving over more land to manufacture goods for foreign markets isn't beneficial for the average person when China is having problems feeding itself.

Having a government that is open about such things as the recent "exploding pig" so that people aren't duped by the farmers' "deep discounts" would be a start. Melamine addition is supposedly an "open secret," but I doubt the Chinese consumer is aware of it. Hong Kong wasn't informed.