Food Protection Trends - November 2008 - 770

management system that is routine and traceable. As the principal part of product certification, green food certification requires that product quality should satisfy consumer demand in developed countries. In the future, more should be done to expand the scale and quantity of green food. As for organic food, it should be developed in areas having the necessary resources, in light of the realities of contemporary China. Fourth, the market for certificated products should be cultivated. A key point is to clear the market and provide consumers with a healthy and transparent market. Transparency of agro-product quality and safety information is an important factor that affects agro-product quality and safety development. Government and media should do more to promote and publicize the certification of agricultural products and to disclose counterfeit and inferior products. It is helpful for establishing a new “higher-price, higher-quality” culture among consumers. The development of agro-product quality and safety certification can be improved by increasing communication of agro-product quality and safety information. The mass media can provide an effective approach. The safe agro-product certification program tarted only a few years ago; although the green food certification has a longer history, it still spans no more than twenty years. Thus, the promotion and monitoring role of the mass media should be fully exploited to improve the social status of agricultural product certification. It is important to work hard to make certification widely known, acknowledged by consumers, and seen as a useful method of solving food safety problems and improving food quality. Fifth, the integrity of certification and related activities needs to be strengthened. To further develop TPC for agroproduct quality and safety, certification it should be considered on the same plane as agro-industrial development and from the angle of global trading, it should be considered as part of the structural adjustment of China’s agriculture. As an effective approach to agricultural structure adjustment, the development of TPC for agro-product quality and safety should be given greater priority as an efficient combination with the construction of regional industrial zones for major agroproducts. In this manner, TPC can play a more effective role in the process of agricultural structural adjustment. It is also very important to focus on the nurture and maintenance of markets for TPC and certified brands. TPC is an effective means to strengthen market competitive capacity for enterprises, especially for industry leaders. A strong and efficient combination of TPC with leading companies will promote market competitiveness of China’s agro-products. REFERENCES 1. Agro-food Quality and Safety Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, P. R. China. 2006. Safety agroproducts made rapid progress in 2005. Accessed at http://www. aqsc.gov.cn. 2. Agro-food Quality and Safety Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, P. R. China. 2006. The quality of agricultural products in our country improved significantly. Accessed at http://www.aqsc.gov. cn. 3. Dong, Z. 2006. Production value of China’s organic food amounts to 3000 million Yuan, Chinese Food Quality Daily 1333: 7 Dec. 4. Ministry of Science and Technology, P. R. China. 2006. 9,728 Products passed green food certification In China. Accessed at http://www. most.gov.cn. 5. Xia, Y., and W. Han. 2002. A Discussion on quality accreditation of agricultural products in China, J. Northwest Univ. of Agr. and For., Soc. Sci. Ed. 2 (3):37–41. Corrected Figure 2 from page 659 of the Sept. 08 issue of FPT FIGURE 2. Age of individuals (number, percentage) who experienced a fatal reaction to restaurant food 770 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | NOVEMBER 2008

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Food Protection Trends - November 2008

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