Beijing (China Daily/ANN) - Organic food
products have become popular New Year gifts as the Chinese are paying more
attention to health and food safety.
On Friday in a Wumart supermarket in Beijing's
Chaoyang district, Han Yuying, a 53-year-old worker at a nursing home, was
trying to select a box full of eggs that, according to the label, were laid
mostly by chickens that had dined on natural feed containing no additives.
"I want to send some eggs to my sisters
as a Spring Festival gift," Han said. "These boxed eggs are
indicative of quality."
The 60-egged box Han bought cost 55.8 yuan
($8.80). That's a higher price than is found at farmers markets, where an egg
can often be had for 0.7 yuan.
In a booth at an Ito Yokado supermarket also
in the Chaoyang district, a box containing 4 kilograms of organic pork was
going for 1,288 yuan.
A salesman said the box was put on sale for
the Spring Festival and that it has proved popular among customers.
"A man just ordered three boxes," he
said.
Zhang Qiang, manager of Lianshan Black Pigs
Farm in Wulian county, Shandong province, which has more than 500 pigs raised
on natural foods, said the demand for organic pork rapidly increases around the
time of Spring Festival. That recurring trend has caused the company's supply
of products to run short this year.
"Organic pork has been chosen as a Spring
Festival gift for many large companies, State-owned institutes and some
government organizations," Zhang said. "Most of the pork is sold to
big cities such as Qingdao and Jinan (both in Shandong)."
Ordinary pork goes for about 25 yuan a kg,
while the organic pork at his farm sells for closer to 100 yuan a kg, Zhang
said.
Besides organic pork, organic vegetables have
become one of the most popular Spring Festival gifts.
Jin Weiran, general manager of Rizhao Yuli
Vegetable Co, which has produced and traded organic vegetables for more than
three years, said sales of organic vegetable have picked up in recent weeks.
"People are paying more attention to the
safety of food nowadays, especially in 2011, when a great number of scandals
about substandard food were exposed by the news media," he said.
Jin said the company's organic vegetables are
mainly transported to Hong Kong and sold to supermarkets there. But at Spring
Festival time, more of his customers tend to come from the mainland.
"More people buy a package of organic
vegetables, which costs about 200 yuan, for their friends as the Spring
Festival gifts," he said. "And the demand has surpassed our capacity
for production. Healthy foods are more welcome than traditional gifts such as
wines and cigarettes."
The prices of organic vegetables are usually
three to four times greater than those of ordinary vegetables, Jin said.
"The price of organic pumpkins is about
18 yuan a kilogram, and regular pumpkins cost only 6 yuan a kilogram," he
said. "Even though the prices are far more expensive, organic vegetables
usually sell out in a short time."
Fan Zhihong, an assistant professor at China
Agricultural University's college of food science and nutritional engineering,
said she believes the increasing popularity of organic food during Spring
Festival shows that people want to eat healthier.
"Giving organic food - a box containing
different kinds of cereals, for instance - may also serve as a reminder of the
importance of having a healthy diet," Fan said.
"But when it comes to nutrition, there is
no evidence to suggest that organic food is more nutritional than ordinary
food. ... Giving these sorts of presents is more of a way of showing your tastes
and expressing your respect toward the recipient."
An Baijie and Wang Qingyun in Beijing/China
Daily | Asia News Network
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