Customized consumption offers a brand-new solution to food safety problems
"This year, the apples in our village have now all been pre-ordered by city dwellers." On June 26, Gao Cheng, a fruit grower from Qingyang, Gansu, said this in Beijing while attending the 5th International Food Safety Summit and the China Good Ingredients Gansu Specialty Agricultural Products Promotion Conference.
Gao Cheng began thinking about growing apples at the age of 19. He tried using pesticides to increase yields. Although the yield was higher, the quality of the apples declined and they no longer tasted good. Later, he returned to green cultivation methods, and as a result the apples he grew passed the national organic food standard testing.
Green cultivation alone cannot solve the food safety problem; safety across the entire industry chain is also needed. With the help of the internet, the customized consumption approach has quietly emerged.
"We established the China Good Ingredients Industry Chain Service Platform precisely to seek a brand-new solution to food safety problems through customized consumption," said Xu Yan, founder of the China Good Ingredients Industry Chain Service Platform, at the summit.
In recent years, a series of public food safety incidents have emerged one after another, striking the public's fragile nerves time and again. Subsequently, China introduced the strictest Food Safety Law in its history, and many food sub-sectors such as dairy, alcoholic beverages and meat products have successively undergone large-scale upgrades in food safety. But it should be noted that despite the progress made, food safety remains an important challenge for the public, industry development and the country.
People's growing pursuit of high-quality, safe and healthy ingredients gave rise to online agricultural product sales models, and specialty agricultural products became the most popular products on large and small e-commerce platforms such as JD.com and Taobao. However, due to the expansion of supply and demand relationships, it became relatively difficult for platform operators to guarantee their sources of goods and product quality, so quite a few gradually withdrew from the market.
The "China Good Ingredients Industry Chain Service Platform" emerged in response, mainly using a pre-order model and production determined by sales; by signing contracts directly with farmers, it provides unified planting seeds, fertilization and technical supervision to ensure quality; and through sales and pre-orders on its own platform, it achieves a direct path from the field to the dining table, removing intermediate links to benefit the people and farmers. It is understood that models like the "China Good Ingredients Industry Chain Service Platform" that order agricultural products directly from bases are now quite numerous. Many of those trying them out are urban white-collar workers, specifically ordering for both sets of parents, children and themselves at home, with direct monthly home delivery. Besides being convenient, the main appeal is safety and peace of mind. The order-based home delivery model is gradually changing the traditional agricultural product sales model.
People familiar with the matter pointed out that this pre-order model across the entire industry chain can both ensure the quality of agricultural products and benefit multiple parties, contributing to poverty alleviation. First, through the internet plus model, it solves problems such as information asymmetry in agricultural products, eliminates intermediate links and maximizes the interests of farmers and consumers. Consumers can enjoy preferential prices and guaranteed high-quality products. At the same time, through advance pre-orders, it reduces farmers' production risks and safeguards farmers' income. Farmers no longer have the incentive to use pesticides or excessive harmful chemical fertilizers, and can cultivate and raise crops with peace of mind, ensuring the quality and safety of agricultural products.
The reporter also learned from the "China Good Ingredients Full Industry Chain Service Platform" that they have shifted from the past industrialized thinking of the "produce first, market later" model to customized marketing in which products are researched, designed, produced and manufactured according to user needs. With tools such as the mobile internet, big data and the Internet of Things, they achieve reconstruction of the industry chain. The China Good Ingredients Platform also forms professional teams to participate throughout the entire process of breeding, planting, pest control, harvesting, storage and processing of agricultural products, strictly controlling every step.
Since its establishment, the China Good Ingredients Industry Chain Service Platform has carried out work in Gansu, Tibet, Qinghai, Hainan and other places, finding markets for high-quality agricultural products from poor areas, bringing income to impoverished people, and gaining recognition from local governments and impoverished people.
More and more people are beginning to pursue a quality life, and "internet plus" has already changed our living habits. It is hoped that under the guidance of Premier Li Keqiang's "internet plus" concept, in the current wave of nationwide entrepreneurship and mass innovation, more service platforms dedicated to food safety like this will emerge, driving the development of new agriculture and making ordinary people's lives better and better.