Danish food safety and sustainability on demand in China

DANISH FOOD SAFETY AND SUSTAINABILITY ON DEMAND IN CHINA

Length: 3:26 min

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Danish food sector sees China’s rising demand for food safety and sustainability as an export opportunity.

 

COPENHAGEN, October 05 (Xinhua) – -A huge opportunity for Danish companies exists to provide the Chinese market with safe and high quality food, which will “help spur the acceleration of the green transition” with Danish sustainable solutions, according to Martin Kristian Brauer, Chief Economist and Area Director at Danish Agriculture and Food Council during a press conference in Copenhagen on Monday

 

“China is focusing on self sufficiency. And this is a challenge for exporters like Denmark. But we believe that our huge focus on the food quality and safe and sustainable foods, creates a huge possibility for us to take a market share and also a growing market share in China,” said Brauer.

The expansion of Danish food exports to China since 2008 makes China “the most important country in the Asian region for Danish agricultural exports and now by far the biggest market in Asia with a huge gap to Japan and even a bigger gap down to Saudi Arabia, the second and third biggest markets.”

 

Denmark’s success in China is driven by pork exports, accounting for nearly 9.3 billion Danish kroner (1.4 billion US dollars), corresponding to a market share of 26 %, says Brauer.

 

According to Food Nation, the Danish food and agricultural cluster, this export success has come on the back of hard work and food safety standards.

 

“We cooperate with our Chinese counterparts at all times developing and meeting the demands of the Chinese market regarding food safety,” said Lise Walbom, CEO of Food Nation also speaking at the press conference.

 

The 4th largest exporter of pork in the world, Denmark adherence to food safety is typified by its response to EU food safety program requirements placed on chicken and eggs which were arbitrarily expanded by the Danes to include a lot of animal products, according to Brauer.  

 

“For example, Pork and for this reason, we have actually managed to reduce the amount of the salmonella to a degree that is today almost not present in our products.”

 

In contrast to the success of final food product, agricultural technology, food processing technology and BIO solutions currently make up just a small part of Danish exports to China but the anticipation is a boom in these exports is just bubbling under the horizon.



“A survey in three major cities in China revealed that consumers were aware of sustainability. And it quite an high and growing number that are telling us that they think about sustainability when they shop and when they eat,” said Brauer.

 

According to Walbom, China will be a very important place to be in the next 2 – 5 years, not just for both final food companies but especially  for food technology companies offering sustainability solutions.

 

“We see a very good and close link between technology, resource optimization, and food safety. This is the how we keep a track on our food production systems in Denmark. And this is what we are about to share on higher level also with our Chinese counterparts now.”

  • SHOTLIST

    • COWS IN STABLE
    • PIECE OF MEAT GETTING COOKED
    • PIGS OUTDOOR
    • PIGS IN SLAUGHTERHOUSE
    • MEDICAL TESTS
    • INSIDE FOOD NATION OFFICE
    • SOUNDBITE: Martin Kristian Brauer, Chief Economist and Area Director at Danish Agriculture and Food Council:
      “China is a little bit is focusing on self sufficiency, and this, of course, is a challenge for exporters like the Danish country, like Denmark. But I think and we believe that our huge focus on food quality and safe and sustainable foods, there’s still a huge possibility for us, to take a market share and also a growing market share.
    • EGGS IN FACTORY
    • MEAT IN FACTORY
    • FOOD NATION OFFICE
    • SOUNDBITE LISE WALBOM, CEO at Food Nation:
      “Well, we have a close collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders in China, and this is, of course, a fundament for continuously developing the food safety and also meeting the expectations of the Chinese consumers and business partners.
    • FOOD GETTING SERVED AT RESTAURANT
    • MEAT AT FACTORY
    • TEST IN LABORATORY
    • EGGS IN FACTORY
    • FOOD NATION OFFICE
    • SOUNDBITE LISE WALBOM, CEO at Food Nation cont.:
      “As we see also in the inside report from Food Nation, for 72 percent of the Chinese decision makers, food safety is the most important indicator of food quality. At the same time, the decision makers in China highlight sustainability and food safety as the most important parameters when they are about to choose a partner for cooperation within the agriculture and food sector. But they also highlight consistency, and they highlight quality and organic as very important parameters when they are looking for business partners.
    • MEAT GETTING PACKED
    • EGGS PACKED AND SENT OUT OF FACTORY
    • FARMER WALKING IN STABLE WITH COWS