Food safety, flavor and a fair fuel organic food

The China Post

BEIJING -- Like many people, Beijinger Xia Xia has become increasingly concerned about food safety and is buying more organic fare.


In this undated photo, a customer tries homemade wine at an uncertified but increasingly popular organic food fair held monthly in Beijing. (ANN)

She still dines out for about half of her meals but says she feels suspicious of fish and oils. And she believes most of the mushrooms she buys in ordinary markets are stale.

Xia, who works in the textile sector, initially turned to the Internet to find organic victuals but discovered the prices were too high and the flavors were too flat.

“When I complained, the seller said taste isn't important,” she says. “I disagree.” Then a friend recommended she visit the monthly Beijing Organic Farming Fair.

Xia has visited the fair four times and spent 500 (US$77.50) to 700 (US$108.69) yuan on mushrooms, vegetables, fruits, pork and millet.

“I've rediscovered the tastes of my childhood,” the woman in her 30s says.

“The aroma is important to me. It makes me want to cook. The cook and diner should both be happy, but that only happens with good ingredients.”

The fair's organizer, Chang Tianle, estimates that more than 1,500 people visited the most recent fair on July 17 at Rose Garden Park near Madianqiao on the North Third Ring Road, in Beijing. He expects twice as many at the next event in August.

The fair's popularity has been fueled by visitors sharing their experiences on microblogs.

Many visitors were foreigners when Japanese artist Emi Uemura founded the fair in September 2010. But most shoppers are now Chinese, which Chang believes indicates greater growth potential.

“Chinese people have a high consumption capacity,” she says.

“They are likely to spend a lot, as long as it's for a lifestyle they seek. Our original intention was to provide a food safety solution.”

It has evolved into a campaign to encourage more small businesses to engage in organic farming, Chang says.

Farmers are reluctant to engage in organic farming, which requires higher costs and lower profits, unless their products' value can be raised and market access assured, Chang explains.

The fair's growing appeal partly comes from its representation of a natural and healthy lifestyle. Chang, who is also a staff member of the NGO Green Ground Union, says modernization comes with drawbacks.

“Industrial agriculture will drive small farmers out of the production chain,” she says. “China is walking the path the United States took, but the ramifications will be worse here.”

Chang says she has concerns, despite the fair's popularity.

The fair isn't certified by the city's urban management department and, consequently, is technically illegal.

The staff is entirely made up of volunteers, whose departure would be the end of the fair, she says. Chang says organizers are considering registering as an NGO or a company to make the fair legal.

They also hope to find several fixed locations and hold a small fair every week and a big one every month.

The events also feature lectures on food safety and sustainable living that deal with such topics as garbage classification.

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