ABSTRACT
The People's Republic of China has the largest population in the world, making it both one of the most fascinating and rapidly expanding import markets for food and beverages as well as one of the most difficult. The Chinese market is appealing to foreign food producers because of the country's high per capita income and quick urbanization. The Agriculture Chapter addressed fundamental trade barriers and will support a significant increase in the export of food, agricultural, and seafood products from the United States, boosting farm and fishery revenue, stimulating rural economies, and fostering employment growth. Numerous non-tariff barriers to the export of U.S. agricultural and seafood products are discussed, including those relating to rice, dairy, infant formula, horticulture products, animal feed and feed additives, pet food, and agricultural biotechnology products, as well as meat, chicken, and seafood. The U.S. has achieved significant export successes thus far, despite the pandemic. Decrees 248 and 249, which take effect on January 1, 2022, mandate that foreign suppliers of particular food products to China register with the GACC before presenting their goods for customs clearance. Several Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) reports on GACC Decrees 248 and 249 have been published by FAS offices in China. For the most recent information on whether their business has to register, whether it can self-register, or if it needs to be recommended for registration by a U.S. competent body, U.S. exporters should examine the GAIN system, which offers points of contact at the GACC. According to Euromonitor, urban Chinese customers who are short on time choose shopping near residential areas, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. During the crisis, consumers grew accustomed to shopping in their immediate areas. As a result, many major modern grocery chains have used a multi-format strategy and constructed smaller-format stores. Freshippo, Yonghui, and Carrefour are all opening smaller, more neighborhood-focused stores that place an increased emphasis on fresh foods. Some of these shops also act as e-commerce order warehouses and offer prompt home deliveries. Particularly Yonghui has opened Yonghui Mini Stores quickly as an addition to its hypermarket and major supermarket operations. The food processing sector in China has been expanding steadily in recent years. According to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), sales, production, and income in the sector rose in 2020. The total profits of China's largest food processing firms reached 620.66 billion yuan (about US$97 billion) in 2020, an increase of 6.8% over the same period in 2019. According to MIIT, these businesses' profit growth was 3.1% higher than the average for all industrial sectors.
ABSTRACT
Seafood is the food group with the highest share traded, and the U.S. is the world's largest seafood importer, importing 79% of the seafood consumed. Hence, a study examining the impacts of the measures to contain COVID-19 on U.S. seafood imports will not only show how U.S. seafood availability has been affected, but will also give strong indications of how resiliently the global seafood markets have worked through the pandemic. We find that U.S. imports of seafood actually increased in 2020 and 2021, suggesting supply chains were able to adapt to potential disruptions. Moreover, for the 14 largest product forms imported to the U.S., there are no strong price movements. Given that there is a global market for most species groups, this adaption also suggests that the markets have worked quite well beyond the U.S. Hence, while there have undoubtedly been market shocks associated with the COVID-19 measures such as the reduction in demand from the restaurant sector and the increased sales in the retail sector, opportunities seem to balance out challenges, and the supply chains for seafood to the U.S. have been highly resilient.
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This special issue consists of seven articles examining the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the markets of selected commodities, including: seafood, lumber, crawfish, cattle/beef, fruits and vegetables in the USA, cotton and garments in Bangladesh, and fuel oil globally.
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To analyze the epidemiological characteristics and related factors of norovirus in Guangxi from 2015 to 2020, and to provide scientific recommendations for norovirus prevention and control. Methods The foodborne diseases surveillance data were collected from 11 sentinel hospitals through the National Foodborne Disease Monitoring and Reporting System from 2015 to 2020. R software with version 4.0.3 was used for descriptive and statistical analysis, including epidemic curve, chi-square test, and trend chi-square and so on. Logistic regression was used to analyze norovirus-related factors, OR values and 95% confidence intervals were calculated respectively with the statistical test level of P < 0.05. Results There were 1 008 norovirus cases detected, with a detection rate of 12.75% (1 008/7 903). Children with age less than 5 years (OR=1.43, 95%CI: 1.13-1.82) and patients at age 20-45 (OR=1.45, 95%CI: 1.13-1.87) were high risk population. The detection rate was higher in autumn (OR=1.29, 95%CI: 1.08-1.53) but lower in summer (OR=0.67, 95%CI: 0.55-0.80). In addition, the tourist area (Guilin City) presented a higher detection rate than other areas (OR=1.41, 95%CI: 1.10-1.80). Aquatic products (OR=1.40, 95%CI: 1.03-1.91), meat and dairy products (OR=1.31, 95%CI: 1.06-1.61) were high-risk foods for norovirus infection. The prevention and control policies of COVID-19 can reduce the possibility of norovirus by 61% (OR=0.39, 95%CI: 0.31-0.49) showed a declining trend (Trend X2=85.33, P < 0.001). In addition, prolonged visit time can lead to 19%-23% decrease in the detection rate of norovirus (OR24-48 hours=0.81, 95%CI: 0.70-0.95;OR>48 hours=0.77, 95%CI: 0.63-0.93). Conclusions The epidemic of norovirus presented seasonal and regional distribution in Guangxi with a declining detection rate trend in diarrhea patients during recent 6 years. Young children were high-risk population in infection norovirus. The intake of seafood can increase the risk of norovirus infection. The prevention and control policies of COVID-19 can sharply decrease the possibility of infection norovirus. The monitoring of key foods such as seafood should be strengthened, and the early screening of suspected cases should be taken. The norovirus monitoring should be improved to ensure the health of the population.
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Due to the growing demand for instant food and lifestyle change after the COVID-19, aquatic pre-made products become popular. The unique nutritional and functional characteristics and processing suitability of aquatic products make them suitable for the development of ready-to-eat, instant heat, instant cooked and ready-to-use pre-made products. However, due to their unique fishy taste, texture and perishable characteristics, appropriate pretreatment technology, flavor and quality improvement and maintenance technology as well as storage technology in the processing and storage process need to be adopted so as to improve the quality of pre-made products. The main factors affecting the quality and safety of aquatic product pre-made products include biological hazards, chemical hazards and physical hazards. Therefore, quality control technologies of aquatic pre-made products including the raw material collection, processing process and the cold chain transportation process are necessary. In the future, aquatic pre-made products should be more nutritious, high-quality and diversified because of the improvement of nutrition and quality control technology.
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Producing safe and high-quality fish and seafood products, for both domestic and export markets must be considered a priority for the entire fish and seafood chain, from fishers and producers towards consumers and food safety competent national authorities, who should update the relevant food safety legislation and ensure compliance with it. The aim of this study is to highlight the rules of hygiene and food safety that are imposed on the fisheries and seafood sector in order to prevent staff illness with Covid-19 and ensure the safety of products. Several practical recommendations are given for completion and improvement of the current preventive measures such as good hygiene practices to which is added specific protocols to safeguard the health of the employees who works in the fish and seafood production and processing sector.
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In this study, the effects of the pandemic, which started to affect the world to 2019-December, on the world aquaculture sector were evaluated with SWOT analysis (opportunities, benefits, and threats). Previous studies on this subject were scanned using certain keywords (COVID-19, pandemic, coronavirus, fishing, fisheries), and a total of 33 studies were listed. Previous studies were classified according to the sub-areas (continents) determined by FAO. The effects of the pandemic on the sector were tried to be determined according to the continents. Accordingly, the threats on a global scale were supply-demand imbalances, closure of restaurants, storage inadequacies, plastic pollution, closure of borders, illegal fishing, inequalities in the sector, and curfew restrictions. The opportunities;creation of new supply chains, raising awareness about the seafood that positive effect on health, establishing a supply-demand balance, granting work permits to fishermen during curfews, allocation of funds to be used in extraordinary situations such as pandemics, development of aquaculture, implementation of measures for the continuity of import-export, providing economic aid packages to vulnerable sector workers such as small scale fisheries, limiting the sexist understanding in the sector, and giving more opportunities to women, and cooperation with riparian countries to prevention of illegal fishing. Its benefits are listed as prevention of overfishing in the short term, protection of fish stocks, reduction of industrial pollution in the aquatic ecosystem, adoption of an ecosystem-based fishing approach in small settlements, and an increase in recreational fishing. As a result of this analysis, it has been understood that we may create accurate and fair international cooperation to solve the adverse effects of pandemia. With this gained experience, it is thought that new production strategies should be developed for trustable food supply chains in the changing world.
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Many pandemic diseases have emerged in the history and millions of people affected from these diseases. Among the marked pandemics in history, the plague, known as the black death, was recorded to cause the death of 17-54% of the world population. Similar to previous pandemics, as the SARS CoV-2, which emerged in 2019 and belonged to the coronavirus family, caused an epidemic and turned into a pandemic infection, positive cases were detected in more than 483 million people, and more than 6.1 million people died. While this emerging epidemic is still continuing its effects, it has been determined that there are positive cases in pets such as dogs and cats, especially in mink (Neovison vison). Especially in Denmark, Netherlands and Finland, positive animals for COVID-19 were accepted. Unlike the pandemic until today, the COVID-19 has spread to broader geographies and affected many animal species. With the reports that the SARS-CoV-2 - was first transmitted from bats to humans, this viral agent has been accepted as zoonotic, but a complete transmission route has not been shown for its transmission from other animals to humans except bats. It is reported that there is no significant risk of transmission of the virus, which is transmitted primarily by the respiratory route, from both pets and edible foods to humans. Although there are many reports in terrestrial animals, studies on the presence of SARS-CoV-2 - in aquatic animals or aquatic environments and COVID-19 transmission in aquatic animals have doubts. Here we reviewed the viability of the SARS-CoV-2 - in the aquatic environment, transmission to the aquatic ecosystem and aquatic animals, and therefore the risks to humans through water or aquatic products.
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This proceedings contains 96 papers on ocean biodiversity;breeding, reproduction, feeding and diseases of aquacultured fish and shellfish;water quality;fishery management, seafood preservation and quality;aquaculture and fishery economics and the impact of COVID-19 on aquaculture and fishery production.
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The present study analyzes the market access of the biggest fish market at Chattogram coastal region of Bangladesh affected by COVID-19. The food chain was reduced locally, regionally, and globally as supply chains were disturbed and international seafood exports were halted for a certain period. For data collection several qualitative data collection tools, such as individual interviews as well as secondary document analysis were employed. To realize the overarching aim of this research the whole market system was analyzed including the supplier, wholesaler, retailer, as well as the consumer of the domestic market in the Chattogram district. The result shows that the pandemic slowed the supply and demand in the domestic fish market, and as a consequence the price of fish was distinctly reduced in the whole market system. The result highlights that the most affected stages of the supply chains are the supply quantity, the interval of the supply, and the quantity of fish sales. Furthermore, the principally affected stages of the demand chains are consumer demand and alternation in the preference of the consumer. To overcome such situation, this study recommends governmental financial support to trades to ensure the smooth flow of the supply and demand and create an alternative market system for the consumer. The pandemic and the measures to address the pandemic have created significant new challenges for market access and controlling pricing in domestic markets. Regularly engage of the policymakers are thus the prerequisite to overcome the compensation of trades and ensure food security in this sector.
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This article briefly describes a series of extension materials created by LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant to assist different sectors of the community to respond to public health concerns associated with COVID-19. The materials created included a series of fact sheets on a variety of issues, including food delivery and take-out, fishing safety information and seafood processing plants. In addition, a series of six posters was developed to create awareness of social distancing among store employees and customers. Two fact sheets were created for the seafood industry. "Fishing Safety and Information During a Public Health Emergency" highlights the health of people working on the boats, the proper use of disinfectants, and considerations when fishers sell their catch directly to consumers. The other fact sheet is "Public Health Emergency Response for Seafood Processing Plants During COVID-19," which provides guidance on the risks associated for processing plants during the pandemic, how to identify high-risk areas, and how to control and prevent the transmission of the virus among employees and visitors. The goal is to minimize person-to-person contact in the plant and during processing. To help create awareness on the control and prevention of the transmission of COVID-19, graphics and videos are available on the LSU AgCenter website for sharing through social media.
ABSTRACT
Global agricultural trade, which increased at the end of 2020, has been described as "resilient" to the impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic;however, the size and channels of its quantitative impacts are not clear. Using a reduced-form, gravity-based econometric model for monthly trade, the researchers estimate the effects of COVID-19 incidence rates, policy restrictions imposed by governments to curb the outbreak, and the de facto reduction in human mobility/lockdown effect on global agricultural trade through the end of 2020. The researchers find that while agricultural trade remained quite stable through the pandemic, the sector as a whole did not go unscathed. First, the researchers estimate that COVID-19 reduced agricultural trade by the approximate range of 5 to 10 percent at the aggregate sector level;a quantified impact two to three times smaller in magnitude than our estimated impact on trade occurring in the non-agricultural sector. Second, the researchers find sharp differences across individual commodities. In particular, the researchers find that non-food items (hides and skins, ethanol, cotton, and other commodities), meat products including seafood, and higher value agri-food products were most severely impacted by the pandemic;however, the COVID- 19 trade effect for the majority of food and bulk agricultural commodity sectors were found to be insignificant, or in a few cases, positive. Finally, the researchers also examine the effects across low vs high income countries, the changing dynamics of the pandemic's effect on trade flows, and the effects along the extensive product margins of trade.