China is in the house

One of the great things about the U.S. Apple Association Marketing and Outlook conference here in Chicago is the international flavor of the presenters. This year, the clinic had apple experts from both China and Europe give windows of insight to their world.

The presentation about the Chinese apple industry - primarily focusing on apple juice concentrate - spoke to the normal issues of crop size, supply and demand and capacity. However, Michael Choi, of Zhonghu America Corp. also spoke to the issue of food safety.

As for supply and demand, the Chinese apple crop is pegged at 21.2 million tons, down from last year's harvest of 26.05 million tons in 2006 (Choi said the official estimate for last year was too high). Acreage has decreased by 2% but yields have been increasing in recent years. A greater percentage of the crop is being processed, with about 30% being used for processing compared with less than 10% used for processing about eight years ago.
Even though China doesn't use all the 4,00 metric tons per hour capacity it has for processing juice concentrate, Choi said another 1,000 metric tons per hour capacity is being added for the upcoming season.

As for food safety, Choi ticked off several reasons why buyers should trust the safety of apple juice concentrate from China. "We have no issues compared with the other imports like toys," he said.

Growers are audited on pesticide use, with every single lot testing. Extreme filtration, high temperature processing, aseptic packaging, cold storage and refrigerated container transport to the U.S. The only possibility for adulteration may be when the concentrate may be sweetened or made more acidic when it arrives in the U.S.

Choi listed an alphabet soup mix of HACCP and quality control protocols that Chinese facilities satisfy. Out of 150 days of processing during the year, a Chinese apple juice plant may have auditors in it 30 of those days from various third party or Q and A teams. Perhaps the weakest part of his case was his point that U.S. FDA, USDA and Customs also inspect Chinese apple juice imports.

China's long-running bid to win access to the U.S. market for its fresh apples continues (Choi didn't speak to this point) and U.S. apple industry sources said it may come up this fall in meetings between the two countries. However, China's spate of food safety issues has hurt its cause, notwithstanding the impressive-sounding arguments for the safety of apple juice concentrate imports.