Panda Guide reveals outstanding Chinese agricultural products

Panda Guide, a platform supported by State-owned Sinochem Holdings Corp Ltd for evaluating the quality of agricultural products, unveiled the 2023 list of outstanding Chinese agricultural products last week in Qionghai, Hainan province, providing consumers with recommendations derived from a rigorous selection process.

Since it released the first list in 2018, Panda Guide has traveled 5 million kilometers, covering 31 provinces, cities and autonomous regions across the country, and surveyed more than 4,000 agricultural businesses.

Zhang Tianzuo, former chief livestock officer of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the demand for high-quality agricultural products in China is growing rapidly, and "good or not" has become the main consideration instead of "have or not".

"Quality products should be firstly produced by farmers, then supervised by related departments, and finally evaluated through consumption," said Zhang.

In the 2023 edition of the Panda Guide, a total of 343 exceptional agricultural products feature. Among them, 19 have earned the prestigious status of three-star products, while 86 have been designated as two-star products, and 212 as one-star products.

This list encompasses an even broader range of categories, spanning eight categories, including fruits, vegetables, grains, edible fungi, nuts, pork, eggs, and aquatic products.

The development of quality agriculture, the creation of quality agricultural products, and the building of consumers' trust are important measures to implement the strategy of boosting high-quality development of agriculture, meeting people's demand for a better life, and an essential path to promote high-quality development of China's agriculture, said Ma Yi, Panda Guide's chief operating officer and founder.

Known as the window of world tropical fruits, Qionghai boasts a unique natural ecological environment and rich tropical agricultural resources, which provide a solid foundation for cultivating high-quality agricultural products with characteristics and developing branding agriculture.

The tropical fruit industry will be an important economic pillar of Hainan province in the future, and Panda Guide will cooperate with the government of Qionghai to establish a Panda Guide sensory laboratory there.

Sun Fajun, deputy director of the department of agriculture and rural affairs of Hainan province, said the two sides will carry out more exchanges and cooperation in industrial development and agricultural brand building, and jointly explore the key to sell well domestic and abroad for Hainan's high-quality agricultural products.