The food and agricultural products exhibition area has always been one of the exhibition areas with the largest number of participating countries and enterprises in all the exhibition areas of the Expo, and it is also one of the exhibition areas that everyone is most concerned about. This exhibition area includes both the top 500 leading enterprises and the majority of small and medium-sized food enterprises. There are not only countries along the "Belt and Road", Central and Eastern European countries, as well as special pavilions organized by exhibition institutions from overseas countries. Activities such as tasting, performance, live broadcast, museum visit, promotion, and signing are also staged in this exhibition area from time to time.
One of the highlights of this year's food and produce exhibition area is undoubtedly the sale-grade bluefin tuna from the Mediterranean Sea brought by Spain's Alber company, which is hundreds of pounds of cold and fresh auction grade tuna. This is the largest exhibit that appeared in this exhibition area this year, attracting countless attention.
Speaking of bluefin tuna, this is an old friend of the Expo. As early as the first CIIE, exhibitors held a fish opening ceremony in the pavilion for it. When the "red cap" was unveiled, a giant bluefin tuna nearly 2 meters long and weighing 250 kilograms was revealed, which quickly caused a cheer at the scene. Under the knife of Mr. Uchida, the kaiyu family of Japanese tuna, "three under five divided by two", in less than half an hour, this "galloping" tuna was under his invincible knife work, and was divided into pieces at the aquatic products booth of Bright Food, and hundreds of professional visitors on the scene not only witnessed this visual feast, but also had the privilege of tasting the delicious tuna sashimi, which was a double experience of visual and taste buds.
At the second CIIE, bluefin tuna was not only exhibited again, but the "tonnage" was also upgraded. In order to bring the 600-pound tuna to the stage, the organizers used jacks, and then the team from Japan carried out a professional "opening of the fish" - from the tail and head of the fish to the first piece of back fillet, and finally in one breath, the tuna sashimi was given to the audience to taste.
At the third expo, affected by the epidemic and other factors, not only all imported cold chain food itself, packaging, equipment, etc. will be tested for nucleic acid, and at the same time, at the expo site, imported cold chain food will not provide a tasting link. Despite overcoming many difficulties, the bluefin tuna came to Shanghai as promised.
So what exactly is a bluefin tuna?
Tuna is actually a collective term for eight species of fish, which can be called bluefin tuna, including three species: Pacific Bluefin Tuna, Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, and Southern Bluefin Tuna. The other five species of tuna are yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, albacore tuna, girder tuna, and blackfin tuna. Among them, the Atlantic bluefin tuna is the largest species of tuna in the tuna family, with a body length of up to 3 meters and a weight of about 400 kg. The largest individual on record was captured in Nova Scotia, Canada, weighing 679 kilograms.
Large bluefin tuna are available in strange goods, generally sold through auction, generally as long as they are hooked, they must be sky-high, without exception. And why are bluefins so rare and precious?
The first is that tuna is active, and once it struggles, the rods and lines used by ordinary fishing enthusiasts can break at any time during the walking process. Even if the rods and lines could withstand such pressure, it would still take several hours for them to be completely subdued.
Secondly, due to the historical overfishing of bluefin tuna, the IUCN has classified it as extremely dangerous. Fishing caps are now set by countries and relevant international organizations. Ordinary fishing enthusiasts generally do not have the right to retain a license issued by the government.
Finally, tuna farming is too difficult. Tuna rely on constantly swimming at a high altitude, allowing the seawater to breathe oxygen through the gills of the fish, and once it stops swimming, it will suffocate, and artificial farming is difficult to find such a large field of activity for it. In addition, for large fish such as bluefin tuna, the upfront investment of farmers is also unimaginable astronomical. So now bluefin tuna can only rely on fishing to obtain.
Editor: Tao Kong