The food safety in Linhai, a county-level city in Taizhou, has been greatly improved following the establishment of a modern agricultural product supply chain.

The supply chain, which was developed by a joint venture set up by the local government and Zhenong Maoyang, the largest food distribution company in Zhejiang, in 2022, has benefited 90,000 people in the city.

The company has signed procurement contracts with more than 100 agricultural businesses, with 80 percent of its agricultural supplies coming from local farmers. These supplies are provided to 162 clients it has established longstanding cooperation relations with, including 143 schools and 19 public institutions.

Agricultural products like vegetable, fruit, meat and aquatic products have to undergo strict quality tests in a 19,000-square-meter distribution base established by the company before they are delivered to customers.

Products that fail the tests performed in a state-of-the-art lab within the base will be returned.

The distribution base is also equipped with facilities related to cleaning, sorting, processing, refrigeration and transportation.