City sourcing more food from elsewhere

Shanghai got 80 percent of its food from outside the city last year as its reliance on the rest of the country for its food supply continued to grow, local media said Tuesday.

The Shanghai Municipal Food Safety Committee said in an annual report that Shanghai's reliance on food manufacturers from outside the city grew by 10 percent year-on-year in 2013, according to a report in the Shanghai Morning Post.

The city's growing reliance on other places for food concerned one expert, who believed that it might undermine local food safety. "It is difficult to fully ensure food safety when the source of the supply is based outside of the city," said Ling Rongquan, a food safety expert who also serves as a member of the Shanghai Committee of the China Democratic League.

It is impossible for Shanghai to rely solely on food sources inside the city because it doesn't have the resources to feed its population of 23 million, Ling said. "Let's take meat as an example," he told the Global Times. "Shanghai raises 3.7 million pigs for meat each year, which is about 25 percent of the city's annual demand. For beef, Shanghai sources more than 90 percent from outside the city."

The fact that so much of the city's food comes from elsewhere has raised safety and quality concerns. "The authorities need to come up with a way to better regulate food from other regions," Ling told the Global Times.

Ling said he once suggested sending government inspectors to food manufacturers based outside the city. However, the method was not practical for all regions.

As Shanghai brings in more and more food from elsewhere, the local government has taken steps to reduce the number of registered local food producers in an effort to improve the industry through consolidation.

According to the report, the local government issued food production permits to about 1,600 companies last year, the lowest number in six years. The figure was down 11.7 percent from the number issued in 2012.

Last year, authorities also revoked about 23 percent of the permits they issued in 2012. The goal was to reduce the number of small to medium-sized food producers to improve food safety, according to the report.

Ling said more structural changes remain necessary. "Most food problems occur at small and medium-sized companies. Closing the small companies could help with the food safety, but the government need to support the development of large and standard sized companies. They are easier to control and more likely to follow the law," he said.

About 20 percent of food companies in the city were classified as small last year, the report said.