CHENGDU - The China Sichuan Paocai International Trade Fair was held in Meishan, Southwest China’s Sichuan province, on Monday.

Paocai means “pickle” in Chinese.

With the theme “Paocai and Health,” the fair drew more than 800 participants including officials from ministries and commissions of the central government and the military, representatives from institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutions, managers of hotels and large supermarkets, Chinese and foreign businessmen as well as foreign diplomats in China, according to Chen Xiaohua, vice-minister of agriculture.

The fair, which had nearly 100 standard exhibition berths, showed products of Sichuan’s representative pickle manufacturers as well as those of some overseas pickle producers, according to Fu Zhikang, deputy chief of the Sichuan provincial department of agriculture.

The fair, which was the largest pickle fair in his province, named the top 10 enterprises in Sichuan's pickle industry last year including the Meishan-based Sichuan Weijute Food Co., Ltd whose pickles were on tables of athletes of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Sichuan, a famous pickle producer in China, made 1.5 tons of pickles last year, ranking first nationwide.

Meishan, a major source of pickle production in Sichuan, has more than 60 backbone pickle processing firms. Last year, the city processed 850,000 tons of pickles and sales registered 4.26 billion yuan, said mayor Li Jing.