Scientific innovations in food products processing set for next 5 years

China will promote scientific innovations in the agricultural products processing industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) to solve major challenges in the sector, an official from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said on Wednesday.

Wang Fengzhong, director-general of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, CAAS, said although the country has made progress in technologies regarding preservation of fresh agricultural products and cold chain logistics, it still remains in the semi-mechanized phase.

"We have a lack of targeted and environmental-friendly techniques in the process of food preservation. The current monitoring and controlling of cold chain logistics can be more accurate," he said.

Sun Tan, vice-president of CAAS, said the losses of fruit from farm to table can reach 40 percent.

"To reduce waste in the processing of agricultural products, China will beef up efforts in key innovative technologies in terms of automated harvesting, storage, transportation and green preservation of agricultural products," Wang said.

"We will develop a batch of smart and professional equipment domestically to control the entire industrial chain of agricultural products processing," he added.

Next, the academy will collaborate with scientific institutions in China to establish a national key laboratory, which aims to provide facility support for reducing the loss of agricultural products.

China has made breakthroughs in the agricultural products processing industry over the past five years, which contributed to an increase in farmers' incomes and promoted the modernization of agriculture.

Last year, revenue from the agricultural products processing industry in the country exceeded 23.2 trillion yuan ($3.56 trillion), and was the equivalent of 67.5 percent of agricultural materials converted into new products, according to the academy.

The risk monitoring platform of agricultural products, which started operations in 2015, has helped improve food quality. The average pass rate of 33 varieties among 244,000 food samples reached 97.6 percent in 2019.