China, Russia: safety of fruit and vegetables

Warsaw - According to the Russian Information Agency “Tatar-inform”, the Department of Agriculture of the Peoples Republic of China presented the results of quality and safety controls of agricultural products in 2006. It shows that fruit and vegetables in the country in general meet the safety standards. The Chinese Department of Agriculture checked the quality of vegetables, livestock and aquaculture products 5 times in 2006.

For example, checks of 18523 samples of 60 kinds of vegetables in 37 cities (including Pekin, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Cheng-chou and Nanchang) has shown, that on average 93% of samples met the Chinese standards (1,6% more than during 2005 controls). In the opinion of representatives of the Department of Agriculture, it is possible to consider quality of agricultural products in China as safe in general, although some problems still exist.

Meanwhile, many Russians, especially people from the eastern part of the country (bordering with China) still cautiously buy Chinese vegetables and fruits, believing that they exceed safe quantity of harmful substances. These fears are often justified - vegetables and fruit sold in markets are, as a rule, offered without full and trustworthy information about their origin. Moreover, there are cases when Chinese fresh produce is sold in Russia as domestic products.

Publication date: February 27 2007
Author: FreshPlaza Correspondent Poland
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