The province of Shandong has released guidelines to promote the high-quality development of its food industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

People shop at an imported goods store at the bonded port area of Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo by Yu Fangping / For China Daily]

According to officials, Shandong plans to strengthen policy support for the processing of seafood, meat and poultry products, edible vegetable oil, wine, fruit, and vegetables, as well as other food processing industries, and cultivate 20 food industrial clusters above the provincial level by the end of 2025.

The province will promote the coordinated development of the entire industrial chain, adhere to innovation-driven development, and accelerate the optimization and upgrading of its food industrial structure.

It will also build cold chain logistics centers and bases for food across the province that are capable of serving the entire country, and will cultivate 100 leading enterprises involved in trans-regional cold chain logistics, more than 10 industrial agglomeration areas and demonstration logistics parks, and one or two cross-border cold chain logistics enterprises. 

The province will encourage food enterprises to make use of advanced technology, ecofriendly packaging, three-dimensional storage, online testing instruments, and other types of advanced equipment and quality control technologies. 

It will also strengthen innovative research on key generic and intelligent technology for the food industry, and will work to develop food industry block chain application platforms to better manage product supply chains and offer big data marketing, quality brand social evaluation, and other services.