On January 8, the imported fruit wholesale trading zone of the Jinhua Fruit Wholesale Market was opened. The special zone covers an area of 39,300 square meters, of which 8,000 sq. m. is the nucleic acid testing area, which is managed and operated 24 hours a day by personnel. The opening of the special zone is a major measure to effectively strengthen the control of imported fruits, which is conducive to the market’s strict implementation of the management requirements of “special channel purchase, special storage area, and special sales area” for imported fruits.

All imported fruits must be fully sterilized in the area to be inspected, and nucleic acid tests will be conducted by professional testing institutions. Only after the test results are confirmed to be negative can the official test label be affixed. Fruits with positive nucleic acid tests will be graded and disposed of according to relevant regulations.

Last year, the market had an annual transaction volume of 2.02 million tons, with a transaction value of 20.8 billion RMB. The establishment of the special zone is not only a need for the market to respond to the new situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a new measure to meet the purchasing needs of Jinhua’s people, ensure food safety, and standardize the transactions in an orderly manner when the peak trading season before the Spring Festival is approaching. The market will continue to optimize the zone management to ensure closed-loop supervision of the entire transaction process. (By Lu Luanfang, translated by Jiang Yifan, edited by Kendra Fiddler)