China's Biggest Private Enterprise: Industry Chain Crucial for Food Safety

Liu Yonghao, CPPCC member and China's biggest private enterprise owner as well as Chairman of the New Hope Group, said during the "two sessions"（NCP and CPPCC）that China's agriculture is expected to undergo transformation, and it is necessary to establish an industry chain for food safety, Chinanews.com reported.

The overall industry chain has extended, spanning from the breeding of livestock, feeding, cultivation and slaughter to the supplying of the market, and its capacity to resist risks has become greater as a result.

Liu noted that his enterprise currently is gradually transforming from the "king of feed" and the "king of pig rearing" to being a service provider in the sectors of meat, eggs and milk. "This is also a miniature version of the Chinese style transformation of the modern agriculture industry. It will be very worthwhile if we continue on this path."

More importantly, each link is traceable, which provides fundamental guarantees to food safety. What is more important to food safety is whether each link is controllable. For example, the Sanlu milk powder scandal occurred because there were problems with the industry chain.

Liu said, in recent years he has been experimenting and exploring the relations between companies and farmers. Farmers refer to the agricultural cooperative economic organizations as pig-rearing cooperatives and chicken-rearing cooperatives. Government, banks, insurers, universities, secondary specialized schools, meat product processing enterprises and fodder processing enterprises can be integrated to form a comprehensive service industry chain.

"This would help provide stable income for farmers and ensure that what urban people put in their mouths is healthy food whose sources are traceable and whose food safety is guaranteed. If this model proves successful in regional experiments and is promoted nationwide, it will be a huge contribution to the nation."

By People's Daily Online