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Prevent "leakage and waste" to firmly hold the "Chinese rice bowl" — Eliminate food waste through full-process tracking
Release Time:
2023-06-26
To ensure food security, efforts must be made simultaneously in both increasing production and reducing losses. Currently, there are issues of leakage and waste at every stage of grain harvesting, storage, transportation, processing, sales, and consumption. To systematically address the problem of food waste across the entire supply chain, Xinhua News Agency reporters conducted investigations in major grain-producing provinces Henan, Shandong, and Hebei.
Food security is a "major national priority." Our country has always regarded food issues as a top priority in governance.
To ensure food security, efforts must be made simultaneously to increase production and reduce losses. Currently, there are issues of leakage and waste at every stage of grain harvesting, storage, transportation, processing, sales, and consumption. To systematically address food waste throughout the entire chain, Xinhua News Agency reporters conducted investigations in major grain-producing provinces Henan, Shandong, and Hebei.
Shandong is the second largest wheat planting province in China and has done thorough work from the very first stage of grain harvesting to minimize losses caused by field harvesting. In a wheat field in Dongdazhang Village, Gaocheng Town, Gaoqing County, Zibo City, the Shandong Province Wheat Machine Harvest Loss Reduction Competition kicked off with great enthusiasm, with 10 combine harvesters lined up competing on the same field.
To guide localities in effectively implementing machine harvest loss reduction, Henan Province has held a total of 297 training sessions and on-site meetings this year, training 320,000 agricultural machinery operators. It has also formulated technical guidelines for reducing grain loss during machine harvesting and conducted hands-on training in the fields.
The head of an agricultural machinery cooperative stated that reducing losses during machine harvesting requires timely replacement with more advanced and intelligent large-scale harvesting equipment. During equipment maintenance, parts need to be replaced and cleaned promptly to prevent grain leakage.
Besides reducing losses during machine harvesting, minimizing losses during grain storage is also an important link.
At the Daokou Branch of the Anyang Direct Storage Company of China Grain Reserves Corporation in Huaxian County, grain reserve warehouses are actively being cleared and consolidated to prepare adequately for the summer grain harvest and storage.
In October 2021, the "Grain Saving Action Plan" was issued, providing a clearer roadmap for achieving grain saving and loss reduction. The plan proposes that by 2025, measures to save grain and reduce losses across the entire grain industry chain will be more stringent, practical, and detailed.
The Daokou Branch of the Anyang Direct Storage Company uses technologies such as internal circulation temperature control and plastic film sealing, which effectively reduce warehouse temperature and humidity, decrease moisture loss, greatly improve the grain storage environment, and reduce losses by 0.2% compared to ordinary warehouses.
In recent years, Hebei Bailiang Grain Reserve Group Co., Ltd. has also actively explored grain storage technologies, including hypoxic storage, low-temperature storage, and high-temperature storage, while reducing storage losses.
With continuous efforts, storage conditions in large grain warehouses have improved significantly. However, the problem of grain loss caused by limited storage conditions among scattered small farmers has not been effectively resolved. Data shows that grain losses caused by simple storage facilities, insufficient drying capacity, and lack of technical guidance among farmers reach about 8%.
Additionally, experts suggest that simple, safe, and farmer-friendly grain storage technologies and granaries should be developed as soon as possible based on different regions and specific grain types. The size of granaries should be based on the average grain output per household locally to avoid mismatches in granary size.
Proper harvesting and storage are essential, but proper utilization is even more important. Data shows that excessive processing causes grain losses ranging from 3% to 10%, with a maximum of about 15%.
To reduce losses during processing, the developed flour group in Xiajin, Dezhou, has implemented the "Quality Grain Project," upgrading production equipment and technology. The flour extraction rate of wheat in the production workshop has significantly increased. In the production workshop of the Developed Flour Group Co., Ltd., the milling production line is equipped with an intelligent "brain" and uses the "six bran, nine hearts, three residues, two tails" milling process to fully extract every grain of wheat.
In the past, from the field to the warehouse, farmers basically used burlap or woven bags to transport grain. Upon entering the warehouse, the grain had to be unpacked and stored in bulk, and repackaged during transfer, naturally increasing grain losses.
Currently, the Developed Flour Group uses specialized transport tools such as high-sided cloth trucks and bulk grain containers to reduce losses caused by spillage, moisture, mildew, and contamination during transportation and handling.
Curbing waste in the sales and consumption stages, the "waste on the tip of the tongue," is a key part of saving grain. In 2021, with the introduction of the "Anti-Food Waste Law of the People's Republic of China" and other new regulations, anti-food waste efforts now have legal backing.
With more than two years of implementation of the Anti-Food Waste Law and the deepening of the "Clean Plate Campaign," saving grain is profoundly influencing people's daily lives and has become a common practice among restaurant operators and diners.
Though small, a grain of rice reflects the virtues of propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame; saving it, though a minor act, helps strengthen the nation and secure the country. A single grain of food shines with the brilliance of traditional virtues and reflects the fundamental demands of modern civilization. Across the land of China, a new era's answer to grain saving is being written.