In Yunnan, every mushroom season brings a collective frenzy akin to a mass ‘poisoning’ (and yes, we mean that in the literal sense of wild mushroom toxicity). In recent years, as wild mushrooms have gained popularity beyond the province and broken into the mainstream, every season seems to bring some…

Northwest China is becoming warmer and wetter, but is this a blessing or a curse for local agriculture? Many people’s first instinct is that becoming ‘wetter’ is a positive development for the arid inland Northwest—after all, more water should mean more crops can be grown. However, the impact of climate…

Key Takeaways The profitability of the practice has given rise to ‘professional counterfeit hunting’. After the Food Safety Law introduced a punitive damages system, increasing compensation from three-fold to ten-fold, a surge of professional hunters entered the food sector, where there was previously little to be gained. While this has…

Key Takeaways Food safety issues can arise at any stage of the chain. If regulation in other areas fails to keep pace, relying solely on heavy fines for individual vendors is merely treating the symptoms rather than the cause and cannot solve the root problem of food safety. For a…

At the end of last year, Foodthink published an article titled “Bringing an Influencer Home to Sell Navel Oranges: Only Then Did I Realise How Hard Life Is for Fruit Farmers”. In the piece, Fengche, who works in Guangzhou, shares the story of her return home to help her family…

Which are the premium lychee-growing regions of Guangdong? Zhong-ge and Guo Rui, residents of Yinlin Village in Conghua, answer in unison: Conghua is certainly among the best. In their view, the quality of a lychee depends not only on latitude but also on the local microclimate. Conghua’s lychees have long…

While the topic of food security may seem academic on the surface, it is fundamentally linked to the daily dietary health and nutrition of every individual. I would like to begin by exploring the concept of food security, examining how this overarching term evolved and the various stages of its…

Since 11 May this year, a new national food safety standard has officially come into effect. The maximum residue limit for flumioxazin in chives has been increased from 0.2 mg/kg to 5 mg/kg, a 24-fold increase. While Fomephon is classified as a low-toxicity pesticide, long-term consumption may still pose certain…

In recent years, more and more people have started drinking specialty coffee. Specialty coffee is truly fascinating, isn’t it? Some brews taste of chocolate, some bring to mind the fizz of popping candy, and others exude the aroma of black tea. However, there are times when coffee makes you question…

“People never enjoy fermented drinks alone.” ——Neither Raw Nor Ripe: A Civilisation History of Fermented Foods I. First Encounters It was early summer 2020 in Beijing. In the early days of pandemic restrictions, everything still seemed manageable. The upheaval of the new year and the turmoil abroad seemed to have…