What measures are there to ensure rice quality and safety?

Rice is one of the main food crops in China, and the safety of rice quality production is directly related to people's production, life and health in many aspects. Rice accounts for 40% of China's grain, while wheat, corn and tubers together account for 60%. Therefore, improving rice quality and strengthening rice production safety is of great positive significance for ensuring food security.

In recent years, due to the inadequate supervision system for rice quality and safety and insufficient attention, incidents of "poisonous rice" have occurred in some areas. In 2002, hundreds of tons of "poisonous rice" were detected in Guangdong, Guangxi and other places in China, and in 2013 Hunan also reported the appearance of poisonous rice. At the same time, because some people feared poisonous rice, they shied away from rice, and in some places there was even a rice panic, which had a negative impact on the development of the rice industry. Therefore, analyzing the factors affecting rice quality and safety, correctly understanding rice quality and safety, and putting forward countermeasures and suggestions are of great significance for promoting safe rice production and establishing a sound quality and safety system.

1 Analysis of factors affecting rice quality and safety

1.1 Industrial wastewater and abuse of agricultural inputs cause soil pollution and excessive heavy metals

In recent years, the state has paid more and more attention to pollution and increased the intensity of treatment, effectively alleviating the heavy metal pollution caused by the industrial sector. However, at present, on the basis of not thoroughly eliminating the original pollution sources, new heavy metal pollution sources have appeared. According to analysis, land pollution is one reason for the phenomenon of excessive heavy metal content in rice; in addition, there are also exogenous pollution, industrial drift materials, and pollution from the breeding industry. In some areas, the heavy metal content in the soil does not exceed the standard, but the heavy metal content in rice does exceed the standard. The reason may be related to the abuse of agricultural inputs.

At present, the excessive use of agricultural inputs in China's agricultural production is becoming more and more serious. Many agricultural and chemical fertilizer ingredients contain heavy metal components, which can greatly reduce the organic matter content in the soil and cause relatively great damage to the soil's self-regulation capacity.

After compound fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer and potash fertilizer are applied to the soil, some heavy metals that are difficult to remove can also enter the soil and crops, causing heavy metal pollution. As for smaller-scale farms, in order to effectively kill parasites in livestock and make pork look brighter in color, people often add heavy metals to feed.

1.2 Insufficient government supervision over rice processing and sales

The rice processing industry mainly includes the comprehensive utilization of rice processing by-products such as rice production, broken rice, rice germ, rice bran and rice husk. Because some rice processing enterprises have backward processing equipment, they cannot ensure that all the selected rice is high-quality rice. Some rice is even produced by small workshop-style enterprises without place-of-origin labels, and once problems arise with the rice, it cannot be traced.

There are many channels for purchasing rice. According to the author's survey, consumers mainly choose supermarkets when buying rice (accounting for 69.77%), so quality can be guaranteed. Some consumers buy from wholesale markets (accounting for 14.73%) and mobile vendors (accounting for 4.65%) in order to save money. The many purchasing channels for consumers are also one of the main reasons why problematic rice enters the market.

1.3 Rice producers have weak legal awareness and relatively low scientific and cultural quality

At present, many rice producers have weak legal awareness and know very little about laws and regulations on agricultural products and food. In order to increase yields, they use large amounts of pesticides, even some banned pesticides, affecting the safety of rice. Many rice growers do not have a high cultural level. The author's survey found that among the main population planting rice, in terms of age distribution, most respondents were concentrated in the 41-50 and 51-60 age ranges, accounting for 45.36% and 31.96% respectively; in terms of educational composition, primary school and below accounted for the largest proportion, reaching 35.96%, followed by junior high school and senior high school, accounting for 26.97% and 26.97% respectively, while college and above accounted for the lowest proportion, at 10.11%. This shows that the educational level of the surveyed farmers is generally not high.

1.4 Excessive media hype will increase people's fear of problematic rice, disrupt normal order, and affect the overall safety of rice production

Sometimes, excessive media reporting can also cause deviation in public opinion and play a role in triggering and catalyzing psychological suggestion among the general public. In today's increasingly developed information age, people's lives are more and more closely connected with it. The degree of integration of China's agricultural product market is already very high. When the media repeatedly spreads reports that poisonous rice has appeared in a certain place, people's expectations of problematic rice may continuously strengthen, producing a psychology of panic and leading to irrational behavior. This may mislead producers, operators and consumers, and disrupt the normal operating order of the rice market.

2 Several suggestions for strengthening rice safety

2.1 Strengthen government regulation and improve producers' awareness of quality and safety

At present, many consumers in China have doubts about rice safety, and more than 1/2 hold a negative or vague attitude. As a public good related to the health of the broad masses of consumers, food safety should be supervised and managed well by the government. The government should regulate the rice market and strengthen the supply of market information. The government should strengthen the management of safety certification work so that relevant production standards and product standards can be implemented, preventing producers from using improper means to reduce production costs for short-term benefits and thereby harming consumers' interests. On the other hand, because the price of organic rice products is relatively high, it is inevitable that some enterprises in the market will try to pass off inferior goods as good ones and disrupt normal market order. Therefore, government departments should strengthen market supervision, increase penalties for illegal acts, and establish information disclosure and transmission mechanisms to ensure the healthy and orderly development of the rice product market.

2.2 Strengthen the protection of cultivated soil in rice-producing areas

First, establish a soil testing system for rice-producing areas. Incorporate soil monitoring in major rice-producing areas into the construction of advanced environmental monitoring and early warning systems, develop soil environmental monitoring plans, and organize their implementation. Increase investment, continuously improve environmental monitoring capacity, gradually establish and improve a three-level soil environmental monitoring network at the national, provincial and municipal levels, and regularly release soil environmental quality reports. Second, actively control the input of agricultural chemicals. Strictly prohibit the use of prohibited agricultural products and counterfeit agricultural materials; in typical areas, comprehensively reduce the total amount of agricultural chemical inputs, avoid abuse or excessive use, and guide farmers in rice areas to use organic fertilizers or biological fertilizers, because organic fertilizers contain a variety of organic substances that can effectively promote rice growth.

2.3 Improve the overall quality of rice producers and operators

First, improve the legal awareness of rice producers and operators. Severely punish the production, sale or malicious use of prohibited agricultural chemicals, and strictly prohibit chemical pollution during rice planting; strengthen inspection of the rice sales link, focusing on strengthening inspection of rice wholesale markets and mobile vendors. Focus on rectifying chaos, and severely punish discovered illegal acts to clarify right and wrong, truly create a good atmosphere for the rule of law, and comprehensively enhance the legal awareness, rule awareness and sense of social responsibility of the broad masses of agricultural product and food producers, operators, enterprises and farmers. Carry out legal education, and increase publicity, education, learning and training on relevant laws and regulations such as the Food Safety Law, the Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Law, and the Regulations on the Administration of Agricultural (Veterinary) Drugs to ensure the implementation of these measures.

Second, improve the scientific and cultural quality and ideological and moral quality of rice producers and operators. According to the author's survey, farmers engaged in rice production and operation generally do not have a high cultural level and are relatively old. In view of this characteristic, various forms of basic education, vocational education and continuing education should be carried out. Rice agricultural technicians should go deep into the fields and not merely carry out theoretical education in the classroom. At the same time, rural compulsory education should be further improved to ensure the basic cultural quality of future producers engaged in agricultural production. Establish and improve a unified platform for basic education and vocational education, such as through online video platforms, where experts can communicate face to face with farmers and solve problems in production. Establish a credit evaluation mechanism to comprehensively improve the ideological and moral quality of rice producers and operators.

2.4 Establish a rice technical standard system

Drawing on the advanced experience of other countries and on the basis of the original standardization system, establish a standard system for the entire rice industry chain. Establish standards for rice water resources and pesticide residues. Accelerate land transfer, encourage large-scale operation, and lay the foundation for unified rice sowing, seedling raising and mechanical operations. Relying on scientific research institutes and agricultural colleges, cultivate comprehensive agricultural standardization talent and provide a talent foundation for the construction of the standardization system.

2.5 News and public opinion should actively guide consumers and producers, and should not let negative news hurt farmers by mistake

Journalists must be cautious and objective when reporting, shoulder the responsibility of supervision and guiding consumption, and must not be one-sided or sensationalize, let alone create panic. Journalists involved in agriculture should possess basic agricultural common sense and humbly consult experts. They must not publish information based on hearsay, and must report objectively and truthfully. The emergence of poisonous rice is affected by many factors, including water pollution and excessive chemicals. In the end, it is unfair to let farmers pay the price and bear the responsibility.

In addition, the views of experts play a very important role in agricultural product crises, so experts must not speak carelessly and must not add fuel to the flames contrary to objective facts in order to curry favor or attract attention.