China's "green," or organic, food industry has entered a new stage of "full-swing" development, said Ma Aiguo, Director of the China Green Food Development Center.

At a round-table meeting on fruit industry held recently in Xi'an city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Ma noted that in the past few years, the output of organic food in China has increased at nearly 30 percent annually, and exports have grown by 50 percent.

By 2003, China had 2,047 companies involved in "green food" production, with domestic sales reaching 72.3 billion yuan and export surpassing 1 billion US dollars.

"Green food," in China for 14 years, is defined as non-polluting, safe, high-quality and nutritious.

The rapid growth of China's national economy and per capita income have triggered changes in market demand, and more people care about their nutrition and health and prefer "green food" for its production that does not involve pollutants and faces strict quality control.

To promote the development of the sector, China has formulated a series of laws and regulations and established a nationwide network to monitor production bases, production processes and quality, packaging, storage and transportation of products, said Ma.

Ma said that market demand is an important impetus for the development of organic food, and cultivating a mature market is a priority listed on their work agenda.

Shaanxi Province, with nearly 200,000 hectares of fruit trees using the "green food" label, is now the largest "green" production base in China.

Source: Xinhua