On Dec 8, a grand ceremony was held in Hangzhou to celebrate the releasing of the first food security index.

Rating scales from 1 to 100 were used to indicate the security level of food. Rating below 90 indicated insecure, while ratings between 90 to 95 Inadequately Secure and rating above 95 secure.

Secure, inadequately secure and insecure are marked in green, yellow and red respectively.

Over the last months, inspection was performed in markets in Hangzhou on nearly 3000 lots of food products in 24 categories, namely, vegetable, diary, meat, condiment, fruit, soybean products, etc.

An overall security index was calculated based on sample inspection results and weight assigned to each category, considering factors such as total consumption and citizen opinion. The 1st security index was rated as high as 98.03, well above the secure threshold value of 95.

The ceremony was jointly organized by Hangzhou City Brand Promotion Office, Hangzhou Quality Monitor Bureau and Hangzhou Science committee. The security index is expected to show the public a whole picture of the overall food security level of the Hangzhou market.

By Li Hui