Beekeepers cannot afford liquid chromatography

Sweet business is not sweet. At the moment, it is the high season for honey. In recent years, the beekeepers have sold new-breeded honey to cooperatives. This year, more and more beekeepers have no choice but to stand on the street.

Recently, the reporter went to an apiculture base and interviewed Dazhuangke Township in Yanqing County. It was learned that these bee-keeping cooperatives could not afford food production licenses because they could not afford more than 500,000 yuan worth of testing instruments. In the past, supermarkets were able to sell 18 yuan a pound of honey, but now the roadside can only sell 10 yuan. Many beekeepers have stated that there will be no beekeeping next year.

500,000 yuan worth of beekeepers look down

Dazhuangke Township is surrounded by mountains, with a basin in the middle, dense forests, and excellent ecology. For many years, the honey produced here has been recognized as the best in the city.

In order to serve the beekeepers and develop the industry, in 2007, Dazhuangke Township organized the beekeepers and established professional cooperatives.

The production of honey is a food industry, which requires a food production license and a lab to handle the license. In 2008, the cooperatives invested funds to purchase equipment.

"The incubator is more than 3,000 yuan, and the drying oven is similar. This is the bulk, as well as test tubes, scales, and constant-temperature water baths, it doesn't cost much money." The cooperative society planner told the reporter that the cooperative has spent a total of 30,000 yuan. Yuan built a sterile room of 5 square meters.

In 2009, the cooperative won the QS (food safety) certification and registered the "Lotus Hill" brand. Since then, Dazhuangke Township has had a brand of honey and started to go into supermarkets and shopping malls. Due to the quality pass, the market has gradually opened up.

However, it may not last long. In May 2012, when the permit expired, it must be re-applied. This time, it cannot be done.

"Relevant departments have issued a new policy requiring the purchase of new equipment - liquid chromatographs. Without this, they will not issue permits." Fu Quansheng said.

One inquire, this equipment will have at least five or six hundred thousand yuan.

Cooperatives are silly: "We only have more than 7,000 yuan of registered capital and spend 500,000 to buy equipment?! Can't afford it."

Can not afford to buy equipment, can not do the license; without a permit, the packaging can not be printed QS certification, can not enter the mall, supermarket.

"Now, our honey can only be sold by the 'self-produced agricultural products' and sold at the roadside." Fu Quan said that in the supermarket, it can sell 18 yuan a pound of honey, and can only sell 10 yuan on the roadside. Cooperatives are closing down.

Do not buy instruments without certificates

Do you have to buy a liquid chromatograph to run a food production license? The reporter found the relevant department.

"In recent years, there have been more fake products in honey products, mainly adding sugar to the inside. Liquid chromatography is the detection of sugar content in honey," the staff of Yanqing County Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision told reporters. In the past, without this problem, there was no such request. Now that there are new problems, we must change equipment.

“In 2012, the relevant departments introduced a new policy specifically targeting farmers’ cooperatives. In the Food Production Licences “Certification Rules,” companies that produce honey must be equipped with liquid chromatographs,” the staff explained.

"Now the food safety concern is so high. As the competent department, we must also strictly control the quality." The staff member said, "If you can't afford the equipment, you can't get into the production conditions. If you don't have production conditions, you can't enter the food industry. This is There is no doubt that."

"We are responsible for food safety and responsible for consumers." The staff repeatedly stressed.

Must I use such an expensive liquid chromatograph?

“In the past, we used spectrophotometry, also called colorimetry, to measure it, and it was also able to measure it, and it was very cheap.” Fu Quanzheng said, “The competent authorities set a higher request from the overall situation of food safety, and we fully understand it. It really required the life of the cooperative."

Sending sweetness to the countryside

Cooperatives can not afford to buy equipment, the competent department can not let unqualified companies produce food, there is no compromise?

"For large enterprises and farmers' professional cooperatives, they should be treated differently." An industry source who declined to be named told reporters.

The strength of large enterprises, not to mention 500,000 yuan, 500 million is not a problem. However, most of the farmer cooperatives have just started. It is not easy to survive, and 500,000 yuan is undoubtedly an astronomical figure.

Moreover, a peasant cooperative is only a cooperative organization. It is organized and serves the peasants. It has great charity and can't use the standards for large companies to ask for a peasant professional cooperative. "Sales operations have always been the weaknesses of cooperatives, and there is no way to develop resistance anymore, and it is the farmers that suffer losses."

However, the responsibility for food safety is extremely important. How can we ensure safety and take care of cooperatives?

“The competent authorities can go to the countryside to send inspections.” The personage inside the industry introduced that the competent department can take the equipment to go to the countryside on an irregular basis and conduct random inspections on farmers’ cooperatives. Once problems are found, they can cancel their production qualifications. "Now, there are many forms of going to the countryside, and sending them to the countryside is an attempt."

In addition, the competent authority may also entrust big companies to do inspections. The government may subsidize part of the expenses. Large enterprises may also collect some of the fees of the cooperatives. This will prevent co-ops from investing a huge amount of money at one time.

“In addition to the bee industry, the fruit industry is also a pillar industry in our country. If farmers do not cultivate bees in the future, we will not only be the beekeepers but the whole township economy. The related person in charge of Dazhuangke Township told reporters worriedly and hoped that relevant departments would come and help the beekeepers!