How to choose vegetable seeds: read the label carefully to tell the real from the fake

■Check whether the basic contents of the label are all present, and pay attention to whether the seed packaging is relatively old

■Look for well-known trademarks, choose products from large companies, and ensure seed quality

Key tips

Plant Chinese cabbage around White Dew. Walking into the seed market, the brightly colored and beautifully packaged products are dazzling. Good packaging does not necessarily mean good seeds. For farmers, who lack the necessary means to test seeds, how can they effectively tell the quality and authenticity of seeds through packaging labels?

The Department of Seed Science and Engineering at Tianjin Agricultural University once organized university students, during the winter vacation, to collect information in their hometowns on the main seed quality and seed packaging in China's current vegetable and flower seed market, striving to identify and analyze the main problems existing in the current vegetable and flower seed market.

Through the survey, they found that most seed packaging labels did not comply with the "General Rules for Labeling of Crop Seeds", with missing items and non-standard formatting; some companies' seeds only labeled the seed category, crop type, business license and place of origin, but did not label the production license, quarantine certificate number and business license number; some products even did not label the seed category; the treatment agents of many coated seeds are toxic substances, yet the packaging bags hardly stated or clearly labeled the agent name, active ingredient and its content, which may cause accidental harm to some farmers when using such seeds. In addition, the labeled contents were not standardized; production dates were not labeled in the prescribed format; most seed steel stamps were generally placed at the packaging seal, which easily made them unclear to read; some seed companies' labels were incomplete and non-standard, using a “highlight the strengths and avoid the weaknesses” approach in their descriptions…… all of these may mislead farmers in their choices.

So, what key labels on the packaging should farmers pay attention to when buying vegetable seeds?

Cao Gaoyi, the teacher at the college who organized the student survey, said: “Production date; for coated seeds, pay attention to the toxicity label of the coating agent; look for well-known trademarks, and choose products from large companies and famous excellent brands to ensure seed quality.” “Through these labels, the quality and authenticity of seeds can be distinguished.” Cao Gaoyi said that first, check whether the basic contents of the label are all present, including crop type, seed category, and variety name; seed producer and operator information, including the name of the seed producer and operator, seed production and operation license number, registered address and contact information; quantity indicators and net content; testing date and quality guarantee period; suitable planting regions and planting seasons for the variety; quarantine certificate number; and information code. Second, also pay attention to whether the seed packaging is relatively old. If the packaging is relatively old, it may be old seeds, so special attention should be paid when buying. (Li Guolong)