Tech Tracks China s Food Chain
HONG KONG – The smartphone tells the story of a kiwi fruit in China.
在中國大陸，智慧手機能訴說一顆奇異果的履歷。
With a quick scan of a code, shoppers can look up the fruit’s 1,600-kilometer journey from the upper Yangtze River to a bin in a Beijing supermarket. The smartphone feature, which also details soil and water tests from the farm, is intended to ensure that the kiwi has not been contaminated anywhere along the way.
消費者用手機快速掃描代碼，就能查詢這顆奇異果從長江上游到來北京超市箱子裡，這1600公里的旅程。這個用於智慧手機的特色功能也能顯示農場土壤和水質測試的詳細結果，目的是確保奇異果在途中沒受汙染。
“I have scanned some electronic products before, but never any food,” said Xu Guilin. “We pay lots of attention to food safety. Most families with young kids would.”
購物者徐桂林說：「我掃描過一些電子產品，但從沒掃描食物。我們很注重食品安全，有幼兒的家庭大都這樣。」
Controlling China’s sprawling food supply chain has proved a frustrating. Government regulators and state-owned agriculture companies have tried increasing factory inspections, conducting mass laboratory tests, enhancing enforcement procedures – but food safety scandals still emerge too often.
管理大陸龐雜的食物供應鏈並不容易。政府監管單位和國營農業公司試著增加查廠次數，進行大規模的實驗室檢驗並加強執法，但食安醜聞仍層出不窮。
Chinese technology companies believe they can do it better. From the farm to the table, the country’s biggest players are looking to upgrade archaic systems with data collection, smartphone apps, online marketplaces and fancy gadgetry.
大陸科技公司自認能把這件事做得更好。從農場到餐桌，大陸最大的幾家科技公司正在透過資料收集、智慧手機應用程式、網路商城和酷炫裝置，讓老舊體系升級。
The founder of the computer maker Lenovo started Joyvio, which tracks fruit from planting to delivery. Internet giant Alibaba connects consumers with farmers via an online produce-delivery service. And Baidu, the country’s leading search engine, is developing a “smart” chopstick that tests whether food is contaminated.
電腦製造商「聯想」創辦人創設「佳沃」集團，追蹤水果種植運銷的過程。網路巨擘阿里巴巴透過線上產銷服務，把消費者與農民連結起來。大陸最大搜尋引擎百度則正在研發智慧筷子，能測出食物是否受汙染。
“In the food production and agriculture industry, transparency is fundamental,” said Chen Shaopeng of Joyvio. “But in China this is not the case.”
佳沃總裁陳紹鵬說：「在食品生產和農業領域，透明是基本要求，在中國卻不是這樣。」
Technology companies will still have to earn customers’ trust. A shopper at one Beijing supermarket tested the trackable kiwi and was intrigued, although not enough to buy it.
科技公司仍須爭取顧客信賴。北京超市一位消費者用手機掃描奇異果後覺得新奇，但這不足以讓她購買。
“This looks impressive,” said Ms. Jiang, who declined to give her full name. “But the thing is, I don’t really trust any certificate.”
這位江太太（她不願透露名字）說：「看起來讓人印象深刻，問題是，我不相信任何認證。」
With more than a billion mouths to feed, China has one of the world’s most complex food chains. At almost every link, there have been problems.
大陸要吃東西的人超過十億，有世上最複雜的食品供應鏈，幾乎每個環節都有問題。
In one of the biggest food scares, in 2008 dairy producers sold milk formula laced with melamine, which put 300,000 babies in the hospital and killed six. Chefs often cook with waste oil from fryers and sewers, a toxic ingredient known as gutter oil that generally goes unnoticed until diners get sick.
2008年大陸爆發極嚴重的食安醜聞，乳品業者販售的奶粉摻了三聚氰胺，30萬嬰兒送醫，其中6人死亡。廚師烹調時常使用油炸鍋和下水道的廢油，這種稱為「地溝油」的有毒成分在饕客吃出病之前，通常沒人會發現。
Such food scandals have shaken consumer trust and spurred protests. The cynicism is so visceral that jokes about food contamination are standard fare on social media and online video shows.
這些食安醜聞動搖消費者的信心並引發抗議聲浪。憤世嫉俗的情緒如此深入人心，以致食品汙染成了社群網站和網路影片的熱門笑話。
Baidu’s smart chopsticks were supposed to be a joke for April Fools’ Day. It published a fake advertisement for a set of chopsticks that would determine whether food had been cooked with gutter oil. The ad went viral on Chinese social media. With such a strong response, Baidu decided to create a real product. Embedded with sensors, the chopsticks test for gutter oil, but they also indicate pH levels and temperature.
百度的智慧筷子本來是愚人節玩笑。百度發出一則假廣告，說有一種筷子能測出食物是不是用地溝油烹調，在大陸社群網站暴紅。由於反應熱烈，百度決定創造真實的產品。這種裝有感測器的筷子主要用於檢測地溝油，也能顯示酸鹼值和溫度。
Baidu is manufacturing a batch of prototypes for testing. It has not yet decided when to release the product or how much it will cost.
百度正在製造一批原型筷用來測試，還沒決定上市時間和售價。
“With Baidu smart chopsticks, I don’t have to worry about gutter oil any more,” one person wrote on Weibo, a Chinese microblog. “I will definitely buy one once it is on shelves.”
大陸微型部落格「微博」網友寫道：「有了百度智能筷，我再也不用擔心吃進地溝油，只要它上市我一定買。」
City dwellers can buy directly from farmers through Jutudi, a pilot program created by Alibaba that has about 10,000 users. It lets users buy vegetables and fruits from farms across China.
透過阿里巴巴試辦的「聚土地」計畫，城市居民可以直接向農民購買產品。約有一萬人使用這個計畫，直接跟大陸各地農場購買蔬果。
Jiang Hui, a 27-year-old web editor, goes online to buy just about everything, so produce was an easy next step.
27歲的網頁編輯江慧幾乎每樣東西都上網買，農產品自然也成網購目標。
“The increasing number of food scandals is turning everyone into a food safety expert,” said Ms. Jiang, who lives with her parents in Beijing. “The more we read, the more scared we are and the more careful we are.”
住北京的她說：「食品醜聞越來越多，每個人都成了食安專家。我們讀得越多就越害怕、越小心。」
Joyvio has focused on acquiring technology and know-how to build its business. The company also bought farms in Chile and Australia and partnered with two large Chilean fruit companies.
佳沃集團致力取得技術和核心知識以建立事業版圖，還買下智利、澳洲的農場，並與智利兩家大型水果公司合作。
“We’ve leveraged our global capacity to bring a lot of new technology to China,” Mr. Chen said. “We continue to eye buying companies or farms in other countries, and also in China to give more scale to our ability to provide high-quality products and goods.”
佳沃總裁陳紹鵬說：「我們利用在全球的實力，把大量新技術引進中國。我們會繼續著眼於收購其他國家和中國的公司或農場，增進我們提供優質產品和商品的能力。」
（李京倫 譯）
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