Role of Agricultural Product Quality and Safety in High Quality Development of China’s Agriculture

Xuan WANG, Shengcai JI, Linping ZHAO, Azhen NIE, Xuefeng ZHAO*, Mengyu LI, Songtao JIA

1. Ecological Environment Monitoring Center of Henan Province, Zhengzhou 450004, China; 2. Agricultural Technology Extension Center of Junan County, Shandong Province, Junan 276600, China; 3. Henan Zhongbiao Testing Service Co., Ltd., Zhengzhou 450001, China

Abstract The quality and safety of agricultural products are closely related to human health. They also play an important role in enhancing the competitiveness of China’s agricultural products market, shaping the brand value of agricultural products, and promoting the high-quality development of agriculture. At present, there are still a series of problems in the quality and safety of agricultural products. Relevant departments of the state should strengthen guidance and supervision, improve the quality and safety awareness and management level of agricultural product producers, and encourage producers to participate in the product certification and process certification of agricultural products. In addition, it is necessary to take effective control measures in accordance with the certification requirements, to evaluate their effectiveness, so as to improve the quality and safety of agricultural products and promote the high-quality development of China’s agriculture.

Key words Agricultural products, Quality and safety, High quality development, Certification of agricultural products

1 Problems in the quality and safety of agricultural products in China

1.1 Environmental pollution of the production areas of agricultural products

Through the survey of the environmental pollution in the production areas of agricultural products in China, the environmental pollution classification of agricultural land can be divided into four levels: low, mild, moderate, and severe, and the pollution level (PL) distribution was 1.1%, 1.5%, 2.3%, and 11.2% respectively. The pollution of agricultural land not only directly affects the safety of the rural ecological environment, but also exerts a negative impact on China’s agricultural production. It seriously affects China’s food safety, and accordingly endangering human health. The pollution of agricultural landmainly comes from the following sources. (i) Improper use of pesticides and fertilizers. (ii) Pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic metabolites carried by wastewater and feces of livestock and poultry breeding. (iii) Domestic garbage due to no special garbage collection, transportation, landfill, and treatment system in rural areas. (iv) Untreated industrial solid waste and wastewater. Pollution of agricultural land may cause excessive residues of organic phosphorus pesticides in agricultural products, excessive residues of heavy metals (such as cadmium, mercury, lead, arsenic), and excessive polychlorinated biphenyls.

1.2 Low resource utilization efficiency in the production process of agricultural products

In recent years, the scale of China’s agricultural production has continued to expand. Agricultural product production enterprises or agricultural cooperative organizations with high production efficiency and resource utilization rate emerge in large numbers. Some enterprises in Henan Province such as Muyuan Foods Co., Ltd. and Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development Co., Ltd. have played an exemplary role and set a good benchmark for the production and processing of agricultural products. However, many retail and small agricultural producers have low output, weak environmental awareness and quality awareness, and to increase the agricultural products output, they misuse pesticides and fertilizers, leading to environmental pollution on agricultural land and they took no repair measures. In addition, in some areas, the elements of agricultural resources are not concentrated enough, so the efficiency of resource management is low, and standardized and large-scale operations cannot be carried out. Most of them are agricultural production and operation methods with one household as the main body. Related technical specifications and technical standards are difficult to popularize, production and operation behaviors are random, and the production process is difficult to effectively monitor, which affects the overall improvement of the quality of agricultural products and the creation of agricultural brands. In the context of the high quality development of China’s agriculture, enhancing the competitiveness of agricultural products has become particularly important. Therefore, how to use limited precious resources to produce agricultural products with higher yields, better quality, and more nutritious and healthy products is worthy of study.

1.3 Low level of agricultural product production standardization

To realize agricultural modernization, agricultural standardization is a basic but comprehensive technical work. Through the formulation and implementation of standards, taking simplification, unification and optimization as the principles, the entire process of agricultural production is incorporated into the track of standard production and standard management, so as to obtain social, economic, and ecological benefits. Accelerating the construction of China’s agricultural standardization is an important approach to ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products, shape high-quality agricultural brands, and maintain health of consumers. However, in the construction of agricultural standardization in China, there remains a series of difficulties including insufficient publicity and training, inadequate standardization system construction, lack of quality and safety management system, weak implementation of safety standards, lack of standardization demonstration zones, and insufficient funding support for construction of standardization.

1.4 Agricultural product testing capabilities failing to meet market requirements

In compliance with

Law

on

Quality

and

Safety

of

Agricultural

Products

of

the

People

’

s

Republic

of

China

, an agricultural product wholesale market shall establish or entrust an agricultural product quality and safety test institution to test the quality and safety of the inward agricultural products for sale by sampling; and shall, when finding any inconformity with the agricultural product quality and safety standards, require the seller to immediately stop the sale, and report to the administrative department of agriculture. However, the current agricultural product testing institutions, especially the county-level agricultural product testing institutions, have few testing parameters, insufficient testing equipment, and the testing team has not yet been well established, and the testing capabilities of agricultural products are low. As a result, unqualified agricultural products may enter the market, such as leeks, celery, tomatoes, cowpeas and other agricultural products that are prone to excessive pesticide residues, threatening the people’s health.

1.5 No perfect quality and safety traceability system of agricultural products

Due to the short sales and consumption cycle of edible agricultural products, weak time limitation for risk control measures such as removal from shelf, sealing, and recall after finding unqualified products, it is difficult to trace the pollution sources. As the state continues to attach importance to the quality and safety of agricultural products, China has established many standards related to the traceability of agricultural products. According to the traceability link, it can be divided into categories such as production, processing, circulation, and traceability standards covering the whole process; according to the types of agricultural products, it includes categories such as grain, fruits and vegetables, edible fungi, tea, livestock and poultry, bee products, aquatic products, and general traceability standards for agricultural products. From the perspective of the standard establishment, the basic framework of the agricultural product traceability standard system has been formed, but from the point of view of coordination, uniformity and operability, there are still shortcomings. The level of various standards is not clear, some categories have duplication and overlap between multiple standards, and some categories still have no standard.

2 Measures to improve the quality and safety of agricultural products and promote the high quality development of China’s agriculture

2.1 Accelerating transformation of agricultural technological innovation and achievements

Technological innovation is an important engine for improving the quality and safety of agricultural products. In China, the agricultural science and technology research and development institutions include government agencies and scientific research institutes. China has initiated and implemented a large number of major scientific and technological projects, such as soil remediation technology, intelligent agricultural technology, new disease and pest control technology, agricultural water saving technology, and green input product reduction technology,

etc

. In recent years, China has great breakthroughs in original scientific and technological achievements. However, scientific and technological achievements should not stay in academic reports, should not stay in papers, instead, they should be used in the actual production and processing of agricultural products. It is necessary to accelerate the transformation of agricultural scientific and technological achievements, serve the production of agricultural products, and establish a technical support system for the entire agricultural industry chain, so as to ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products.

2.2 Conducting the evaluation of the nutritional quality of famous, special, high-quality and new agricultural products

In order to implement the spirit of the No. 1 Central Document in 2018 and focus on the "Agricultural Quality Year", the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs formulated the

Key

Points

for

Work

of

Quality

and

Safety

of

Agricultural

Products

in

2018

, pointing out that it is necessary to formulate and implement the national strategic plan for developing agriculture through quality, adhere to quality first, and vigorously promote agriculture through quality, green concept, and brand effect. In accordance with the requirements of the

Standards

for

the

Collection

and

Registration

of

the

National

List

of

Famous

,

Special

and

High

-

quality

New

Agricultural

Products

(2020 Edition), the annual confirmation system is implemented for the certificate of famous, special and high-quality new agricultural products. Since the date of issue of the certificate, a unique nutritional quality evaluation and appraisal report shall be submitted every three years (every other two years). This policy shows that China’s agricultural development model has undergone a fundamental change, from incremental development orientation to quality improvement orientation, that is, from the original production first to the quality first development idea. The nutritional quality evaluation of famous, special, high-quality and new agricultural products has a leading role in the structural reform of the agricultural supply side. It can not only increase farmers’ income and raise agricultural efficiency, but also greatly enhance the competitiveness of China’s agricultural products brands in the international market.

3 Encouraging the quality and safety certification of agricultural products

In recent years, the international requirements for the quality and safety of agricultural products have shifted from qualified final products to standardized, safe, and reliable planting and breeding links. The whole process of agricultural product quality and safety from "farm to dining table" is actively promoted and implemented, accordingly bringing about the production management and control system and the corresponding system certification. With the continuous upgrading of scale, the agricultural product industry has gradually shown a trend of marketization and internationalization. The quality and safety certification of agricultural products has promoted the improvement of agricultural product quality and safety level, brand value and comprehensive competitiveness, which is of great significance to eliminate information imbalance, transmit trust, reduce repeated inspections, eliminate technical barriers to trade, and safeguard consumer rights. At present, the international mainstream certifications for agricultural products include HACCP system certification, GAP system certification, GMP system certification, On-Farm system and SQF system certification. Combined with the actual situation in China, the agricultural product system certification system developed by China includes product certification represented by the "three products and one indication" (pollution-free agricultural products, green foods, organic agricultural products, and agricultural product geographic identification) led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and process management certification represented by HACCP and GAP.

3.1 "Three products and one indication" certification

The "three products and one indication" refer to pollution-free agricultural products, green foods, organic agricultural products, and agricultural product geographical indication. It is a public service brand of safe and high-quality agricultural products led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. It is the leading product of agricultural production and consumption at present and in the future. At present, the certification of pollution-free agricultural products has been suspended, and it is expected that the certification system for pollution-free agricultural products will be implemented. In the future, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will strengthen the certification of organic agricultural products, and the certification of green food will gradually begin to be led by certification authorities and be supervised by the CNAS accreditation committee. To a certain extent, the development of agricultural product certification is an inevitable choice for agricultural development, and also an important symbol of the transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture.

The "three products and one indication" certification system is based on standards or technical specifications as certification criteria. Entities applying for certification need to carry out production operations in accordance with relevant standards and technical specifications to ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products from the source. The implementation of agricultural product quality and safety certification has promoted the implementation and application of agricultural standardization, and has basically formed an agricultural product and food certification system that runs through planting, breeding, production, processing and trade. At the same time, the establishment of the traceability system can visually reflect the quality and safety information of certified products, make the production process of agricultural products transparent, and standardize production behavior. On the one hand, it can regulate the production behavior of agricultural producers, and on the other hand, it can also facilitate consumers to identify and consume safe agricultural products.

3.2 Process management system certification

The implementation of the HACCP and GAP certification systems for agricultural products plays an important role in the research on how to carry out the source monitoring of agricultural products, how the monitoring data reflects risks, how the risk assessment shows early warning, how the early warning system responds, and how the response system responds. It is a key point that needs to be considered in the scale and standardization of agricultural production. It is of great significance to improve the effective supply of green and safe agricultural products, to provide the quality and safety level of agricultural products, and to promote the high quality development of China’s agriculture.

4 Discussion

The quality and safety of agricultural products come from the primary agricultural products, that is, the reliability, usability and intrinsic value of the plants, animals, microorganisms and their products obtained in agricultural activities, including the nutrition, hazards and external characteristic factors formed and remaining in the process of production, storage, circulation and utilization; there are requirements for characteristics such as grades, specifications, and quality, as well as requirements for the level of harm to people and the environment. (i) Under the premise of innovative research and development to solve the pollution of high quality agricultural seeds and agricultural land, it is necessary to optimize the allocation of resources and scientifically use pesticides, fertilizers, insecticides, and other resources to minimize the environmental pollution and improve the development quality. (ii) It is recommended to promote the quality evaluation of famous, special and high quality new agricultural products, "three products and one indication" certification and HAPPC and other process certifications. (iii) Relevant departments provide proper policy guidance, promote the standardization and scale of the production process of agricultural products, and continuously improve the quality and safety of agricultural products, so as to promote the high quality development of China’s agriculture in a practical and feasible manner.