From Nov. 13 to Nov. 17, the 17th China Food Safety Annual Conference and the 
11th China Pickled Food International Expo will kick off in Dongpo District, 
Meishan City, Sichuan Province. Organized by the People's Government of MeiShan 
and under the theme of "Healthy Food, Shared Worldwide", this expo is centered 
on the Dongpo pickle, a slightly salty and crispy appetizer that is popular 
among gourmets at home and abroad.

This conference has invited nearly 400 exhibitors for participation, with 68 
international participants from South Korea, Japan, Russia, etc. During the 
event, there will be roughly 1,600 political guests at home and abroad, expert 
scholars, responsible persons for associations and chambers of commerce, 
investors and exhibitors taking part in.

According to the sponsors, this event will incorporate a string of featured 
activities, including the 17th China Food Safety Summit, Pickled Food 
International Cooperation Summit Dialogue, sales exhibition of 
international/domestic pickled food, "A Taste of Meishan" Food Industry 
Production and Sales Meeting, JD online/offline "China Pickled Food 
International Expo", "International Pickle + Pickling Jar" Making Competition, 
live promotion on popular Chinese platforms, recommendation by world 
environmental volunteers, "A Taste of Meishan and A Taste of Home" tens of 
thousands of people QR code scanning recommendation, and Dongpo pickle public 
cultural activity.

Pickle is the vegetable fermented for enduring storage. In 2006, the American 
authoritative magazine, Health, put pickle first of the world five top healthy 
foods. Pickles are made every corner in the world, featuring distinctive 
treatment methods and flavors. The sour cucumber of France and the sour-sweet 
cabbage of Germany are well-famed examples. In China, Dongpo Pickle has the 
largest group of fans.

Dongpo Pickle was invented in Dongpo, a district of Meishan City that sits at 
30 degrees of northern latitude and embraces a warm climate to offer unique 
bacteria required for the fermentation. Tasting crispy and tender, pickles 
produced here are rich in live lactic acid bacteria and good for whetting one's 
appetite and human spleens. Apart from common ingredients such as cabbages, 
cucumbers and carrots, the following apples, peaches and even meat can also be 
processed into pickles here.

Dongpo Pickles feature not only great flavor, but also healthy and 
environmental making process. First of all, environmental vegetables are used 
as ingredients to set up the first "Security Wall". By promoting bio-pesticide, 
expanding the use of organic fertilizer, and reducing the use of chemical 
fertilizer and pesticide, the district has realized the environmental 
transformation of vegetable planting bases. In the district, a car in full load 
of fresh vegetables could reach the pickle makers in Pickle Park within half an 
hour.

Dongpo District marks the only national-level green food/vegetable standardized 
production base county (prefecture) in Sichuan. To encourage pickle makers to 
directly do business with the planters, placing orders for vegetable 
ingredients on demand, the district has built a national-level green vegetable 
base with tens of thousands of mu. In 2018, 460,000 mu standardized pickle 
ingredient base has been available in Dongpo and surrounding areas, helping 
150,000 farmers inside and outside the district register an annual income of 
RMB930mln, with 60 pickle makers offering jobs for 36,000 farmers living nearby 
and handing out RMB1.2bln worth of wages.

The National Pickle Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, China's first 
watchdog for pickles, has been set up in the China Pickle Town. The center has 
put forward the first pickle industry standard, taken lead in the formulation 
of international standards, such as the Specification and Testing Method for 
Pickle (Salted, Fermented Vegetable), and worked out many research achievements 
to fill in the domestic blank and lead the international industry. The 
industrial park, with China Pickle Town as the core, was successfully built 
into the first "National Modern Agriculture Park" in the end of 2018, ranking 
top among national counterparts.

The maturing pickle industrial chain has induced a large array of local star 
enterprises. As the leading Dongpo pickle maker, Ji Xiang Ju has joined hands 
with CJ Group, the largest food maker in South Korea, to establish a joint 
venture, thus turning competition into collaboration. Liji Group also makes 
remarkable performance -- Liji Pickled Fish Seasoner tops China in production 
and sales. Additionally, it has set up subsidiaries in New York and Los Angeles 
to radiate to North American, South American and European markets, making 
Dongpo pickle an option on international menus.

In 2019, Dongpo Pickles would have estimated sales revenue of more than 
RMB19bln. With its pickles sold to more than 100 countries and regions, such as 
the US, Canada, South Korea and Japan, Dongpo District has become the world's 
largest pickle making base.

Source: The People's Government of MeiShan