Why China’s food security is being threatened by nutrient loss

The loss of nutrient-rich foods through processing, packaging, handling and transport poses a threat to China’s food security, says government think tank

New study adds authorities should promote a more healthy and low-carbon diet, including coarse grains, aquatic products and white meat like poultry

Reading Time:2 minutes

Workers on a production line at a fish processing factory in Liaoning province. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:00pm, 19 Sep 2022

China must do more to prevent nutrient loss and waste beyond the farm gate if it wants to ensure food security for its 1.4 billion citizens, the country’s top agricultural research body says.

Chinese authorities have in recent years ramped up rhetoric around safeguarding food supply, with President Xi Jinping declaring a war on food waste in August 2020.

A record summer heatwave and drought over the past few months has put the issue in the spotlight once again. Farmers and the government are on edge about the success of the coming harvest amid reports that rice paddies, corn fields and aquaculture farms are all short of water.

But a new study from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) has also highlighted the food security threat posed by the loss of nutrient-rich foods through processing, packaging, handling and transport.

China’s annual nutrient leakage across its food system could meet the nutritional needs of roughly 190 million people, or 13.6 per cent the population, said report released by CAAS at the weekend, without providing a metric for nutrient loss.