Are the agricultural products that people buy and eat every day safe? This is a question of deep concern to every citizen in Wuhan. What standards must agricultural products meet to be sold on the market, and who is responsible for quality inspection? As people's expectations for a better life grow from 'having enough to eat' to 'eating with confidence', higher requirements have been placed on the quality and safety of agricultural products.

On June 7, the 7th season (44th total) Wuhan Rural Revitalization Lecture Hall, hosted by Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and Changjiang Daily Media Group and co-organized by Wuhan Women's Federation, was held as scheduled at Yafei Agricultural Science and Technology Park in Hannan District. With the theme of 'Strictly Guarding Agricultural Inspection Safety to Protect People's Vegetable Baskets', the event combined online live streaming and on-site guest interviews to explain why Wuhan's agricultural product quality and safety level remains among the top in China and how Wuhan has achieved 18 consecutive years of excellent performance in agricultural product quality and safety.

Safeguarding Food Safety

Not everyone in a white coat is a doctor; they may also be agricultural inspectors. Working behind the scenes all year round, they serve as 'guardians of food safety' for Wuhan citizens. So what exactly do they do?

Zhang Lin, member of the General Party Branch and Chief of the Fourth Inspection Section of Wuhan Agricultural Inspection Center, introduced that the center is mainly responsible for the quality and safety inspection of edible agricultural products, agricultural production environments and agricultural inputs across the city, including planting products such as vegetables, fruits and edible fungi, breeding products such as livestock, poultry and aquatic products, as well as agricultural water, soil, chemical fertilizers and feed. 'Figuratively speaking, we carry out full-category quality inspections from 'soil, fertilizer and water' to 'vegetables, meat and fish'.' As a municipal-level inspection institution, the center has conducted quantitative inspections of more than 3,000 batches of samples annually in recent years, and plans to complete 3,400 batches this year, an increase of 15%.

As hot summer arrives, a large number of agricultural products including vegetables and fruits are hitting or about to hit the market. Zhang Lin explained with recent work: 'Seasonal fruits and vegetables are our inspection focus, and we also keep tight inspections on fresh aquatic products, eggs and other livestock and poultry products. On the basis of routine monitoring, we will increase the frequency and intensity of summer monitoring to ensure food safety, and current inspection results are good.'

'High-temperature seasons are peak periods for plant diseases and insect pests, as well as agricultural pesticide use — and naturally the busiest time for agricultural inspectors,' said Dr. Deng Yanqin, member of the General Party Branch and Technical Principal of Wuhan Agricultural Inspection Center. She noted that in summer, key listed varieties require targeted sampling with increased frequency and quantity. Sampling is tough work, often leaving workers sweating in sunny weather and muddy in rain. 'In summer, temperatures inside vegetable greenhouses can exceed 50°C; clothes soaked in sweat can be wrung dry. After rain, sampling rice or wheat in fields often leads to people — and mobile phones — falling into ditches.' 'We work without holidays, and overtime testing is normal. But as long as people eat safely and healthily, the hard work is worthwhile,' Deng said.

Many female agricultural inspectors like Deng regard high-temperature work as routine. The center has a master-doctor inspection team composed of female inspectors, which has won honors such as 'National Advanced Collective for Women's Contributions' and 'Wuhan Model Women's Civilization Post', truly embodying 'women holding their own against men' in work style.

'They deeply understand the importance of agricultural inspection, stick to their posts to safeguard agricultural product quality and safety, and go deep into fields to conduct on-site sampling and testing to ensure agricultural products meet quality and safety standards in production,' said Zheng Qingfeng, Technical Manager of Wuhan Yafei Seed Co., Ltd., who has witnessed the hard work of agricultural inspectors. He was impressed by their 'rigor, carefulness and professionalism' and felt inspired as an agricultural enterprise representative.

Building a Tight Agricultural Safety Network

Wuhan's high level of agricultural product quality and safety benefits from both 'production' and 'supervision'. Zhang Lin stated that under the strong leadership of the Party Leadership Group of the Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Quality Supervision Division, together with all districts and the Municipal Agricultural Inspection Center, is 'building a tight network' and 'strengthening a team' led by Party building. 'Building a tight network' refers to establishing a three-level, four-tier inspection system covering municipal, district, subdistrict and enterprise levels, forming an agricultural product quality and safety inspection network led by municipal and district routine sampling, supervision and random inspection and risk monitoring, supported by subdistrict rapid monitoring, and dominated by enterprise commitment-compliant origin exit testing.

As a pioneer in developing modern agriculture in Hannan District, Hannan Zhongke Ruiyu Technology Co., Ltd. has innovatively realized 'land-based marine seafood farming' and successfully bred 'Hannan-produced grouper'. At present, its Hannan base mainly breeds pearl gentian grouper, and is also carrying out hatching and breeding of pearl grouper and golden tiger grouper this year.

'With 120 jin of fish per cubic meter of water, disease prevention is crucial given the high density,' said Li Jianchao, representative of the company. 'Land-based marine seafood farming' is essentially recirculating high-density aquaculture, requiring precise control of water quality and feed; improper handling would cause huge losses, which in turn forces enterprises to upgrade technical standards. Therefore, the company actively cooperates with agricultural inspection agencies, regularly checks water quality, ensures traceable feed sources, controls production drugs, monitors and self-inspects diseases. 'We dissect fish to observe internal organs, identify problems and take countermeasures. Products are only sold after meeting safety standards.'

'As an enterprise, Wuhan Yafei Seed Co., Ltd. produces Yafei Broccolini, Lacinato kale and sprout vegetables all under agricultural inspection standards,' Zheng Qingfeng said. The base integrates agricultural inspection into the 'seed selection and breeding' stage by 'carefully selecting varieties with strong resistance'. Taking Yafei Broccolini as an example, compared with ordinary broccoli, its clustered flower stalks are less likely to accumulate water, greatly reducing disease risks caused by rainwater. 'Strong natural resistance reduces pesticide use during planting, which is eco-friendly and healthy, ensuring product quality and safety.'

Yafei Seed also prioritizes agricultural product quality and safety during planting. Zheng noted that the company widely uses physical pest control methods such as insect nets, traps, yellow boards and insecticidal lamps to reduce pests and thus pesticide use. Meanwhile, it has a professional team long engaged in agricultural inspection with postgraduate qualifications, conducting sampling basically once a week. The team records pesticide application timing in detail, regularly tests residues to deduce reasonable application intervals, summarizes methods into management manuals and provides standards for farmers. 'Farmers can directly copy the pesticide application plan, which is more conducive to seed market promotion.'

Yafei Seed's achievements in agricultural inspection have been confirmed by Wang Haisheng, a third-level promoted researcher at the Municipal Agricultural Inspection Center. He stated that whether in Hannan District's application for a provincial agricultural product quality and safety zone in 2023 or this year's application for a national-level zone, 'the pass rate of products submitted by Yafei Seed is fully guaranteed'.

Building a Strong Inspection Team

'Strengthening a team' means that Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is fully cultivating and expanding the inspection technical team. At present, the city has 6 agricultural inspection agencies, all certified and assessed, with nearly 100 inspection technicians. Among them, Wuhan Agricultural Inspection Center has built a high-quality professional team, with nearly 80% of technicians holding intermediate or senior professional titles. In recent years, the center has recruited 16 masters and doctors majoring in analytical chemistry and other fields, continuously enhancing inspection capacity.

'The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs organize an inspection skills competition every three years, covering theoretical knowledge and on-site operational skills,' Dr. Deng Yanqin introduced. The theoretical assessment covers a wide range of content including the Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Law, relevant laws and regulations, inspection agency management specifications and laboratory operational skills. On-site operations mainly test quantitative detection techniques for pesticide residues in planting products, veterinary drug residues in livestock and aquatic products, and illegal additives such as clenbuterol and malachite green.

Deng emphasized that solid daily accumulation is key to good competition performance. To this end, technicians of the center practice hard: first, mastering basic theoretical knowledge of agricultural product quality and safety inspection; second, strengthening practical skills in daily work through individual and peer training to build muscle memory; third, enhancing horizontal learning through multiple training sessions and technical exchanges with experts and peers.

Thanks to solid accumulation, Wuhan Agricultural Inspection Center has achieved impressive results in competitions. Since 2016, it has participated in three provincial-level agricultural product quality and safety competitions, with all 6 participating team members winning awards, including one first prize in the aquatic product category in 2019. The center has continuously carried out item expansion and capability verification, increasing authorized inspection parameters from 241 in 2015 to 463 currently. 'We have achieved full coverage of inspection items, key enterprises and key varieties,' Deng said proudly.

Along with improving team quality, 'hardware' strength is also rapidly improving. Liu Peijie, an agricultural inspection engineer at the center, revealed that with the strong leadership and support of the Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Municipal Rural Revitalization Bureau), municipal and district agricultural inspection agencies have added many sophisticated instruments. The center has been equipped with more than 200 sets of advanced instruments worth over 30 million yuan, among which the most advanced one can detect more than 500 kinds of pesticide residues simultaneously, leading the province in functionality.

The Accelerating the High-Quality Development of Modern Urban Agriculture in Wuhan (2023–2027) plan focuses on stable production and supply of grain and 'vegetable basket' products to increase farmers' income, prioritizing the construction of the 'vegetable basket' project.

Liu Peijie stated that agricultural inspection serves three key roles: first, ensuring supply and benefiting people by strengthening agricultural inspection and monitoring to help more high-quality green agricultural products enter the market, ensuring safe consumption for citizens; second, improving quality and income by enhancing product quality, boosting enterprise competitiveness and brand building to promote sales and farmers' income growth; third, maintaining stability, as stable social environment is essential for high-quality development of modern urban agriculture. Strengthened agricultural inspection makes consumption safer, enhances people's sense of gain and happiness, and promotes social harmony and stability. 'I believe that complete software and hardware construction will enable agricultural inspection to play a more important role in accelerating the high-quality development of modern urban agriculture in Wuhan.'