China direct

President Xi Jinping has called on public safety officials to redouble their efforts and demanded improved regulatory mechanisms to avoid future scandals. 

Speaking in a group study of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Xi stressed the importance of public safety in a stable social environment and ordered the authorities to remain on high alert.

China should strengthen safety regulations for agricultural products, food and drugs while carrying out targeted campaigns to improve workplace safety, Xi said, according to Xinua, China’s official news agency.

The emphasis on public safety came after a fire killed 38 people at a private rest home in central China's Henan Province. A preliminary investigation found poor building quality and lax safety management were to blame.

City implements novel composting scheme​

Guangzhou is planning a fly farm an an environmentally friendly means to rid the city of kitchen waste, Xinhua has reported.

The larvae of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens​) raised at the farm are expected to consume 200-400 tonnes of rubbish each day, according to the city’s urban management commission.

The farm will mainly process garbage produced by Guangzhou’s restaurants and household kitchens. The initiative comes at a time when China’s fast-growing cities are facing mountains of household waste in polluting landfill sites.

The fly larvae have shown a strong ability to process organic waste, including food leftovers and animal dung. The larvae are also rich in protein and can be made into medicine and animal feed.

Zhang Xing, an official with the recycling cooperative of Huadu District, said local researchers have mastered the use of insects for restaurant waste disposal and are working to apply it to family kitchen waste.

Dairy leads Chinese food imports​

China imports more dairy than food from any other food segment, according to the Chinese ministry that regulates food imports.

Dairy imports are to the tune of an estimated US$9.54bn a year. Oils and seeds, estimated at US$9.45bn, comes next, followed by aquatic products, at US$7.29bn, AQSIQ revealed in a report. Meat is China’s fourth highest imported food import, valued at US$6.46bn.

Europe has seen a sizeable increase in dairy exports of dairy to China over the last two years, with France representing the largest share at over 25.4%, followed by the Netherlands at 24.9% and Germany at 13.4%.

In 2014 70% of China’s infant formula came from the EU. Liquid milk imports from the EU were estimated to have increased by over 50% in 2014 to just less than 300,000 tonnes.

Amazon plans Chinese online grocery​

Amazon has joined local stores and suppliers to offer an AmazonFresh style selection of fresh groceries in China. The new fresh categories include fruit and vegetables, meat, seafood and cakes, with appealing images and descriptions similar to AmazonFresh which operates in the United States. 

However, the China store will not be exactly like AmazonFresh in that it plans to curate a marketplace of products without handling logistics or using refrigerated vans for deliveries.

Meanwhile, Alibaba’s logistics affiliate will construct a new, 60,000 square-metre grocery distribution centre to cover 25 cities in eastern China. The major expansion will begin operating in July as the biggest of Cainiao’s five grocery distribution centres.

It expects to be able to deliver groceries in 250 cities by the end of the year.