Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    FRENCH retailer Carrefour launched its own brand of fresh food Sunday in Shenzhen to ensure better quality and lower prices amid the recent tide of food safety scandals in China and rising competition from online food sellers.

    The first product of the brand, called Quality Line, is Guanxi pomelos from Pinghe County, Fujian Province, and oranges from Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, will arrive very soon, according to Frederic Gauthier, regional director of Carrefour’s Shenzhen/Dongguan/Huiyang regional office.

    The retailer plans to purchase 30,000 tons of pomelos from Pinghe this year to sell them in more than 200 Carrefour stores in China.

    “Carrefour’s Quality Line system has been run in Europe for many years,” Gauthier told reporters Sunday. “Carrefour China decided to start the Quality Line program in China one and a half years ago.”

    Guanxi pomelo is the 529th Quality Line product the French retailer has launched worldwide, according to Laurie Daniel, manager of import food category of Carrefour’s Shenzhen/Dongguan/Huiyang regional office.

    The Quality Line system is a safe food production program that has agricultural products traceability, according to Gauthier. Customers can scan quick response (QR) codes attached to the pomelos to learn where the pomelos were produced and when they were harvested. With this system, agricultural production not only requires the guarantee of food safety, but also attaches importance to environmental protection during the entire production process, he said.

    The two farmer associates supplying Carrefour with Guanxi pomelos are required to use certain amounts of organic fertilizers and pick the fruit only when it’s ripe, the retailer said.

    To counter rising food costs, Carrefour launched a direct purchase project in 2007 to buy farm produce from farmers directly. The program has benefited 562 farmer associates across the country.

   Caption:

    Frederic Gauthier (R), regional director of Carrefour’s Shenzhen/Dongguan/Huiyang regional office, and Maggie Cui, manager of Carrefour’s Poly store, showcases Guanxi pomelos with Chinese and French national flag patterns on them in the retailer’s Poly store in Nanshan District on Sunday. Carrefour launched its own brand of fresh food Sunday in Shenzhen to ensure better quality and lower prices amid the recent tide of food safety scandals in China and rising competition from online food sellers.Liu Minxia