With the improvement of living standards and the gradual formation of the concept of healthy diet, people's demand for aquatic products rich in high-quality protein is becoming more and more vigorous, and the mainland continues to provide guarantees for the stable production and supply of aquatic products.
Cui He, president of the China Aquatic Products Circulation and Processing Association, said in an interview with the Beijing News reporter a few days ago that the biggest change in the mainland aquatic products industry in the past ten years is the improvement of quantity and quality, and the food safety supervision has become more and more stringent and meticulous, including the traceability system is becoming more and more perfect, etc., to protect the safety of the people's table. At the same time, many aquatic products breeding, processing enterprises turn to prefabricated vegetables to seek new growth points, in his view, the current aquatic products prefabricated vegetable industry shows a rapid development momentum, the future development potential is large, is a new model of agricultural first, second and third production integration development, the association is also promoting the construction of aquatic products prefabricated vegetable standard system, standardize the development of prefabricated vegetables.
Cui He, President of The China Aquatic Products Circulation and Processing Association. Courtesy of respondents
"Traceability" is a safety check
Beijing News: Can you talk about the changes and trends in the mainland aquatic products industry in the past ten years from the perspective of supply and demand?
Cui He: From the perspective of supply and demand, in terms of quantity, our supply of aquatic products has increased year by year, the variety is becoming more and more abundant, and the number of imported aquatic products is in a state of growth; From the perspective of quality, with the improvement of living standards, people's demand for high-quality protein is increasing, the laws and regulations on the supervision of aquatic product quality are gradually improved, the frequency of monitoring of origin and market has increased, and the degree of enterprise standardization has been greatly improved, which has also made the safety and quality of aquatic products circulating in the market more assured to consumers.
Beijing News: From the perspective of the whole industry chain, what risk points still exist?
Cui He: From the perspective of the entire industrial chain of aquatic products, our country should be in a leading position in the world, the industrial chain is relatively perfect, and many aspects have been integrated with developed countries, such as the construction of various aspects of the traceability system. However, there are also some shortcomings and places that need to be improved, such as cold chain logistics, which need to be continuously improved compared with European and American countries.
Beijing News: "traceable" has become a hot word in recent years, what is the significance of this for the aquatic industry?
Cui He: The traceability system solves many problems, on the one hand, it helps the government to supervise food safety, on the other hand, it also helps to protect food safety and the interests of consumers. Originally, after some products had food safety problems, they could not find the source at the first time, but now in the case of more and more perfect traceability systems, the root cause of the problem can be quickly found.
Our association is also constantly promoting the improvement of the traceability system, traceability requirements have been refined to specific categories of aquatic products, such as artificially farmed puffer fish, in order to ensure that access to the market must be 100% non-toxic, so the requirements must be fully traceable. For example, in order to protect the aquatic biological resources of the Yangtze River Basin, wild Yangtze River knifefish, etc., in order to prevent wild knifefish from flowing into the market, we also require that knifefish must be traceable to ensure that the knifefish sold in the market is completely from aquaculture.
Promote the construction of standards for prefabricated dishes for aquatic products
Beijing News: In recent years, many aquatic product breeding and processing enterprises have turned to prefabricated vegetables to seek new growth points, what do you think of this phenomenon?
Cui He: Prefabricated dishes have existed in the market 10 years ago or even 20 years ago, such as steamed scallops with garlic vermicelli, etc., and in the past two years, the market has given it some new connotations and received more attention, especially the epidemic has made pre-made dishes encounter a turning point. In the case of limited transportation of fresh and frozen products, prefabricated dishes can solve the dietary problems of many families' tables and play a role in food supply. At the same time, with the increase of online consumption, the product form of pre-made dishes also needs to meet more and more consumer demand.
Aquatic product breeding and processing enterprises have the advantage of product supply, and turn to the deep processing of prepared vegetables, which has great potential for development. A core link of prefabricated dishes is the processing of aquatic products, for consumers, it is equivalent to placing the kitchen link in front of the processing plant, which also means that aquatic product breeding and processing enterprises must strictly control the quality of environmental health, cold chain transportation and other links in addition to ensuring the quality of raw materials.
Beijing News: In the process of standardizing the development of prepared dishes, what work has the association done?
Cui He: At present, many large-scale enterprises are involved in the field of prepared dishes, and they are taking the lead in doing it, and there are also some small-scale enterprises to join the team of prepared dishes, I think it is a good thing for large and small and medium-sized enterprises to develop prepared dishes, but the problem facing them at present is the need to introduce unified norms and standards, which is what the association is focusing on.
For example, the price of Buddha jumping off the wall sold by the online sales platform is tens of yuan, and there are also two or three hundred yuan. In fact, what must be included in the pre-made dish of Buddha jumping the wall, and how much the net weight ratio of the main categories should be guaranteed, etc., all need to have meticulous standards in order to achieve quality assurance, otherwise there will be a phenomenon of indiscriminate charging. Now large enterprises have their own enterprise standards, the association is also constantly promoting the formulation of prefabricated vegetable standards, we consider these standards as a collection, promote the construction of aquatic products prefabricated vegetable standard system, enhance corporate self-discipline.
Beijing News: Crayfish has become a hot seller on the summer table, from the perspective of market circulation and consumption, what new characteristics of the crayfish market this year?
Cui He: Judging from the situation of the crayfish market in recent years, the total supply is constantly increasing, and the price is in a state of volatility. This has both objective factors, such as the listing concentration period is from April to June, starting in July to enter the closing stage, and by August it will be rare, and the centralized listing will bring about price fluctuations. On the other hand, the epidemic will also affect the consumer demand of the crayfish catering market, which in turn will also have a certain impact on prices.
This year's crayfish market situation is somewhat special, the price of small size crayfish has risen, and the price of large size crayfish has not changed, which is also related to the repeated epidemic situation, and dine-in consumption is the main target market for large size shrimp.
Beijing News: Will crayfish continue the protagonist status of the summer table?
Cui He: Crayfish has been an Internet celebrity product on the table for many years, I think on the one hand, because crayfish can be cooked in a variety of flavors, always allowing consumers to find the right one. On the other hand, from the price point of view, crayfish is a popular food, loved by young consumer groups, which is a huge consumer group. In family dinners, the rich taste of crayfish can also meet the needs of different age groups, so the fire has a fire reason.
Improve the quality of the extended processing chain
Beijing News: What is the current focus of the development of aquatic products processing and circulation in the mainland?
Cui He: Circulation and processing are the links we are most concerned about, whether it is agricultural products or aquatic products, they must be sold when they are produced. In the circulation link, we have always advocated high quality, ecology and brand operation. In the processing process, extending the industrial chain of the processing link, enhancing the added value of products, and promoting brand building are also the work of the association in continuous promotion.
Beijing News: Looking forward to the next decade, in what aspects will the aquatic products industry change?
Cui He: According to a previous report released by the United Nations, in the past decade, the global consumption of aquatic products has increased year by year, and the consumption of aquatic products on the mainland has also increased year by year. With the increase in the demand for high-quality protein consumption, we will also import a large number, and this trend is likely to continue. The mainland has established many long-term trade cooperation with many countries, including overseas investment projects, and in the future, whether from the breeding link or the processing link, it will be able to ensure the supply of high-quality aquatic product protein in China.
On August 9, 2022, "Food Safety • Ten Years" Beijing News Food Safety Special Issue.
Beijing News reporter Qin Shengnan
Edited by Wang Ziyang Proofreader Jia Ning