Jinjiang food industry employs international safety standards

The food industry in Jinjiang, Fujian province, looks to international standards to ensure its safety, according to local food processors.

"We adopt international standards for our raw materials, production processes and equipment," said Zhong Ji, director of the planning center at Panpan Foods Group, a leading snack food processor.

Zhong said that a lot of Chinese food products are as good as imported ones. But the food safety scandals in recent years had hampered consumers' trust in made-in-China foods.

"We use a lot of imported equipment to ensure safe production. We also organize tours into our factories to show the consumers how the bread is baked," said Zhong.

In 2011, Roland Mesnier, a French-American pastry chef who served as executive pastry chef at the White House for 25 years, became Panpan's chief technological consultant. The company then introduced a cake brand named after Mesnier.

"The image of an international culinary expert has further boosted Panpan's reputation for striving for the best quality," said Zhong.

Xu Shu, manager of Clever Mama, a joint venture based in Jinjiang, said that his company has been looking to South Korean technology in producing high-end pudding.

Jinjiang's food industry started from wedding candies and canned food. Now it covers a wide range of products including baked and cooked food, glazed fruit, roasted nuts and beverages.

In 2015, Jinjiang's food sector recorded revenues of 38 billion yuan ($5.7 billion), up 8.5 percent from the same period the previous year.

Chen Changxi, president of the Food Industry Association of Jinjiang, said that food industry there has been growing fast despite the economic slowdown.

"Quality and safety are key factors that our consumers consider," said Chen.

"We encourage enterprises to use technologies and equipment from abroad where the standards are more sophisticated than ours. We have a food test center with high-standard equipment and test procedures," he said.