U.S. politicians have recently made a fuss about Chinese garlic. Florida Senator Rick Scott has advocated an investigation into garlic imports from China, claiming that China's garlic is unsafe and unhygienic because it is fertilized with human feces and sewage, and even that China's way of producing garlic threatens the United States. A number of experts interviewed by the Global Times reporter said that the statement of the American politician is "very absurd", China is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of garlic, and the export requirements for agricultural products, including garlic, are very strict, not only to meet the Chinese standards, but also to meet the American garlic planting and food safety standards, the American politicians' statement is a disguised "slap in the face" of the United States.
Garlic **Visual China.
China is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of garlic. In recent years, the export volume of fresh garlic has exceeded 1.5 million tons, exported to more than 140 countries and regions, Southeast Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, the European Union, Japan and other important export markets. Shandong, Jiangsu and Henan are the main production bases for China's garlic exports. Chinese garlic is of high quality and low price, and has high cost performance, which makes Chinese garlic have strong competitiveness in the world.
The "Technical Guidelines for the Export of Garlic and Its Products" on the Ministry of Commerce of China** lists nearly 4 pages of requirements in the "Chinese Garlic Standards" section. In addition, international standards are listed, including the European Union, the United States, Japan, etc. In the case of the United States, the USDA also has detailed garlic rating standards.
In fact, whether crops should be fertilized with "human manure" has long been debated in North American academic circles. A report released back in 2017 by the Office of Science and Society at McGill University in Canada said that human waste is as effective a fertilizer as animal waste, which is common worldwide. Although there is no evidence that Chinese garlic is fertilized in this way, the practice is not problematic in any case, the report said.
Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that professionals can understand at a glance that the arguments of American politicians are untenable. First of all, China has very strict requirements for the export of agricultural products, including garlic. At present, the province with more garlic exports is Shandong, and local export farmers may not plant for 3 years to achieve the purpose of purifying the soil if they want to obtain export qualificationsSecondly, organic fertilizer needs to be fermented before it can be used, and human manure is organic fertilizer, which cannot be absorbed by crops directly watered with manureThird, China's agricultural exports face a lot of inspection and quarantine, whether it is China's agricultural products exported to the United States, or exported to any other country, after obtaining the export qualification, the other party will also have random inspection, if the sampling inspection is unqualified, it will also not pass the customs.
Garlic is a traditional advantageous agricultural product exported by China, with an annual export volume of more than 1.5 million tons. Zhu Yi, an associate professor of food science and nutritional engineering at China Agricultural University, told the Global Times that China's garlic exports to the United States must not only meet Chinese standards, but also meet American standards. Zhu Yi asked rhetorically: If American politicians think that there is a problem with Chinese garlic, do they think that the US import and export inspection and quarantine is in vain?
Zhu Yi told reporters that the United States has a small production of garlic, and generally imports Chinese garlic, and then sells it as garlic powder, garlic capsules and other products. Zhu Yi has participated in the American Garlic Festival, and Americans even have many processed garlic products such as garlic ice cream.
But some in the United States have long been concerned about Chinese garlic imports occupying their domestic market. The BBC has reported that the United States is a major consumer of garlic, but for many years, the United States has accused China of "dumping" garlic. "USA Today"** previously reported that about 40% of the garlic in the current U.S. market is grown domestically, 60% of garlic imports come from China, and most of the garlic growing areas in the United States are distributed in California. Data shows that China is the largest garlic country in the United States, but since the former Trump of the United States launched a war against China and imposed tariffs on Chinese garlic, the amount of garlic imported by the United States from China has dropped sharply since 2018. According to the report, the tariffs have caused a box of Chinese garlic** to rise to between $52 and $55, while the same weight of California garlic** is between $70 and $74.
According to data from China's Ministry of Commerce, in the first half of this year, the second place in terms of value among the countries and regions that imported garlic from China was the United States, about 1600 million US dollars, down 113%。Some American catering practitioners said that Chinese garlic still has the best advantage, but the tariffs have almost doubled the number of Chinese garlic**, and the consequences are being borne by American consumers.
*: Global Times.