Don't Let Rumors Become a Stumbling Block to the Development of the Livestock Industry
Recently, incidents such as "six-winged chickens" and "pork containing worms" have been wildly circulated in WeChat circles online, leading many consumers to believe them firmly and actively participate in spreading them, bringing negative impacts to the livestock and poultry breeding industry while also bringing unstable factors to society.
In the complex online environment, when faced with such information, the first thing we should do is not impatiently upload it to our Moments to attract attention, but rather calm down first, and then objectively browse relevant materials or reports. Perhaps at this point everyone will discover that these messages were actually proven to be rumors several years ago; they have merely changed their titles, times, and locations, put on a "vest," and "taken the stage" once again.
Why can rumors never be completely eliminated? Data shows that 90% of the food consumers in our country eat belongs to agricultural products. As the "highlight" of agricultural products, the safety of livestock and poultry products is even more closely watched. Therefore, if exploited by people with ulterior motives, consumers become the biggest victims and spreaders of rumors, and the blow dealt to the breeding industry is unimaginable.
At the end of May, in order to create a clean and clear online food environment, relevant central media launched a seminar themed "2015 Purifying Cybersecurity · Cracking Down on Food Rumors," offering suggestions for exploring how to prevent and crack down on online food rumors. This undoubtedly brought good news for the healthy development of livestock and poultry breeding. So, how should the livestock industry overcome the troubles of rumors in the future? The author believes it should start with the quality of livestock and poultry products themselves and the dissemination platforms, among other aspects.
To forge iron, one must be strong oneself. In a series of livestock and poultry food safety incidents that have occurred in recent years, the adulteration and sale of fake goods and the abuse of drugs by a small number of enterprises have deeply stung consumers' hearts, causing them to develop distrust toward livestock and poultry food, and even to generalize such phenomena as a whole. Combined with the fuel added to the fire by online platforms such as WeChat, this has caused them to develop a "phobia," making them afraid to easily consume livestock and poultry products again, seriously hindering the healthy development of the livestock industry. If livestock and poultry enterprises could truly carry out production and business activities in accordance with the requirements of the Food Safety Law, not illegally or excessively adding preservatives and food additives, daring to take responsibility, and returning the public's right to know, then when consumers face rumors, they would naturally be less blindly obedient and more rational.
Maintain a healthy dissemination environment. Nowadays, using online platforms such as WeChat official accounts and Weibo to spread rumors has become a gray-interest industrial chain, showing a trend toward corporate operation and spawning various business models that profit by means of rumors. Among these, there is no shortage of hype and exaggeration by unscrupulous media, nor is there any shortage of malicious competition among livestock enterprises. Therefore, on the one hand, the government, industry organizations, and enterprises have the responsibility to help the broad masses of consumers improve their knowledge of livestock and poultry food safety and understand the usage norms and standards for veterinary drugs, preservatives, and additives, rather than completely denying related science and technology or turning pale at the mere mention of them; on the other hand, the government should support industry organizations and enterprises in taking up the weapon of law and intensifying the crackdown on those who fabricate and spread livestock and poultry food rumors, until their criminal responsibility is pursued. In this way, a fair, just, and open market competition order for livestock and poultry food can surely be created.