CH: Food safety fears spark growing taste for imported fruit among China’s middle class
Photo: Lea Aharonovitch / Flikr CC BY-NC 2.0
South China Morning Post: Zhang Che was eating a Mexican avocado – currently one of the most popular fruits sold in China – just as she was reading the latest news article about the poor sales of domestic fruit growers.
A fourth high-end fruit store has now opened within five minutes walk of her Shanghai home.
Longstanding fears over food safety standards on the mainland – including frequent reports of residue left on domestic fruit after the excessive use of pesticides and swelling and ripening agents – have led to a craze among China’s growing middle class for imported prime fruits in recent years.
Avocados shipped in from Mexico were now the fastest increasing item, said Mabel Zhuang, China consultant of the global fresh produce trade organisation, Produce Marketing Association.