China should look to solving its food safety issues through creating a modern business-based farming sector rather than importing raw materials, industrial experts said at the 2013 Fortune Global Forum in Chengdu, yesterday.
"It is a generational challenge," said Gordon Orr, director and chairman of McKinsey Asia, when asked if China can rebuild consumer trust in food quality after contamination scandals.
Some Chinese food companies are considering switching to overseas suppliers with better reputations, but the impact will be limited.
Even the acquisition of the world's largest pork processor Smithfield Foods proposed by Shuanghui, can only support a very small part of China's demand for pork, as it accounts for half of the global consumption, Orr said.
Echoing Orr's view, Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman and CEO of Charoen Pokphand Group which owns diverse food businesses, said China's agriculture production needs to be transformed from the current family-based one to a modern farm business model with better management and technology support.
He called on the government to further open the industry to private companies.
As rural workers migrate to urban areas, big food companies can fill the role, said Liu Yonghao, chairman of China's agribusiness conglomerate New Hope Group.
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