從農場到餐桌 中國科技公司助你吃得放心

HONG KONG — The smartphone tells the story of a kiwi fruit in China.

香港——在中國，智能手機能夠呈現一顆獼猴桃的完整故事。

With a quick scan of a code, shoppers can look up the fruit’s complete thousand-mile journey from a vine in a lush valley along 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.

通過快速掃描代碼，購物者可以查詢這種水果從長江上游蒼翠山谷的藤蔓上到北京超市箱子裏的千里之旅。用於智能手機的這項功能還能提供有關農田土壤和水質檢測的詳細信息。它的目的是確保獼猴桃在這整套流程中不受污染。

“I have scanned some electronic products before, but never any food,” said Xu Guillin, who recently tested the tracking function at the supermarket while shopping with her 3-year-old grandson. “We pay lots of attention to food safety. Most families with young kids would.”

“我以前掃描過一些電子產品，但從來沒有試過食物，”最近帶着3歲的孫子在超市購物的許桂林在嘗試了手機追蹤功能後說。“我們非常關注食品安全。大多數有小孩的家庭都會關注。”

Controlling China’s sprawling food supply chain has proved a frustrating endeavor. Government regulators and state-owned agriculture companies have tried to tackle the problem in a number of ways — increasing factory inspections, conducting mass laboratory tests, enhancing enforcement procedures, even with prosecutions and executions — but food safety scandals still emerge too often.

事實證明，控制中國龐大的食品供應鏈是一項令人沮喪的工作。政府監管部門和國有農產品公司一直在設法通過多種方式來應對這一問題，比如加強工廠檢查、進行大規模的實驗室檢測、強化執法程序，乃至起訴和處決違法人員，但食品安全醜聞仍舊時有發生。

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 robust data collection, smartphone apps, online marketplaces and fancy gadgetry.

中國的科技企業相信自己可以做得更好。從農場到餐桌，中國的科技業巨頭期待利用強大的數據蒐集能力、智能手機應用程序、網上市場和酷炫的電子設備來升級過時的舊系統。

The founder of the computer maker Lenovo started Joyvio, the agricultural company that tracks kiwis and other fruit from planting to delivery. The Internet giant Alibaba directly connects consumers with farmers via an online produce-delivery service. A gaming entrepreneur is running a pig farm on the side. And Baidu, the country’s leading search engine, is developing a “smart” chopstick that tests whether food is contaminated.

電腦生產商聯想的創始人後來創立了農業公司佳沃。它會追蹤記錄獼猴桃等水果從種植到運送的各種細節。網絡巨頭阿里巴巴通過從生產到配送的一條龍在線服務將消費者與農民直接連接起來。一名掌管遊戲公司的企業家另外還經營了一家養豬場。中國主要的搜索引擎公司百度則是正在研發一款可以檢測食品是否受到污染的“智能”筷子。

“In the food production and agriculture industry, transparency is fundamental,” said Chen Shaopeng, chief executive of Joyvio. “But in China this is not the case.”

“在食品生產和農業產業裏，保持透明是基本原則，”佳沃集團總裁陳紹鵬說。“但是在中國，情況並非如此。”

While technology companies may not have the scandal-tainted past of the traditional food industry, they will still have to earn customers’ trust. A shopper at another Beijing supermarket, BHG Market Place, tested the trackable kiwi and was intrigued, although not enough to buy it.

雖然科技公司可能不像傳統食品行業那樣承受着醜聞迭出的歷史負擔，但它們仍然需要贏得消費者的信任。在北京的另一家超市——華聯高級食品超市，一名顧客試着瞭解了一下這種可追蹤的獼猴桃，而且很感興趣，但這並不足以讓她購買。

“This looks impressive. But the thing is, I don’t really trust any certificate,” said Ms. Jiang, who declined to give her full name, looking closely at a three-page report on the fruit. “We all know that certificates can be faked.”

“讓人印象深刻。但問題是，我其實不相信任何認證，”拒絕透露全名的姜女士說。她仔細查看着一份有關這種水果的長達三頁的報告。“我們都知道證書可以造假。”

The size of the problem alone is daunting. 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.

單是食品問題的規模就會令人氣餒。中國有十幾億人要吃飯，擁有世界上最複雜的食品供應鏈。幾乎每一個環節都存在問題。

In one of the country’s biggest food scares, in 2008 dairy producers sold milk formula laced with melamine, which put 300,000 babies in the hospital and killed six. Last year, a supplier to McDonald’s and KFC was caught putting rotten and expired meat into products. Penny-pinching chefs 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，中國曝出了一樁巨大的食品醜聞：多家乳製品生產商出售摻有三聚氰胺的配方奶粉，致使30萬名嬰兒入院治療，六人死亡。去年，麥當勞(McDonald’s)和肯德基(KFC)的一家供應商被發現向產品中摻入腐爛和過期的肉。吝嗇的廚師會用從油炸鍋及下水道中回收的廢油做菜，而這種名爲“地溝油”的有毒原料通常不會被注意到，直到食用者患病。

Such food scandals have shaken consumer trust and spurred outcries and protests. The cynicism is so visceral that jokes about food contamination are standard fare on social media and online video shows.

此類食品醜聞動搖了消費者的信心，引發了強烈的不滿和抗議。人們出於本能地對此冷嘲熱諷，在社交媒體和在線視頻中，拿食品污染開玩笑已經成爲一種慣例。

Baidu’s smart chopsticks were supposed to be a joke for April Fools’ Day. The search engine giant published a fake advertisement for a set of chopsticks that would determine whether food had been cooked with gutter oil. The ad struck a chord, and it quickly went viral on Chinese social media sites.

百度的智能筷子本來是愚人節的一個玩笑。這家搜索引擎巨頭髮布了一則假廣告，稱有一種筷子能判別食物是不是由地溝油烹飪的。廣告引發了共鳴，迅速在中國的社交媒體上火了起來。

With such a strong response, Baidu decided to create a real product. Embedded with sensors, the chopsticks primarily test for gutter oil, but they also indicate pH levels and temperature. The product’s charger allows consumers to identify different fruits and vegetables as well as where they were grown and the calories they contain. The company is debating whether to add a feature that would indicate salinity, allowing users to determine whether mineral water is fake.

由於反響極爲強烈，百度決定創造出實物。這種裝有傳感器的筷子主要用於檢測地溝油，但也能夠顯示酸鹼度和溫度。它的充電器能讓消費者識別不同的水果和蔬菜，以及它們的產地和所含熱量。公司正在討論是否加入顯示鹽度的功能，使得消費者能夠據此判斷礦泉水是不是假冒產品。

Baidu is currently manufacturing a small batch of prototypes for testing. The company says it has not yet decided when to release the product or how much it will cost. Even so, it has already generated interest.

百度目前正在生產一小批用於測試的樣品。公司表示尚未決定這款產品的發佈時間和價格。即便如此，它已經激起了人們的興趣。

“With Baidu smart chopsticks, I don’t have to worry about gutter oil any more,” one person recently commented on Weibo, a Chinese microblog. “I will definitely buy one once it is on shelves.”

“有了百度的智能筷子，我就不用再擔心地溝油了，”新浪微博上的一名用戶前不久評論道。“一旦上架，我肯定會買一副。”

City dwellers can buy directly from farmers through Jutudi, a pilot program created by Alibaba that has about 10,000 users. An e-commerce twist on the “buy local” movement, Jutudi lets users buy regular deliveries of vegetables and fruits from farms across China. Consumers can even pick their own plots in a sort of virtual farming, although deliveries may come from multiple places.

通過阿里巴巴創立的試點項目“聚土地”，城市居民可以直接從農民那裏購買產品。該項目目前擁有大約一萬名用戶。它是電子商務特色的“當地消費”運動，能讓用戶從全國各地的農場購買定期配送的蔬菜和水果。消費者甚至還能在某種虛擬農場中挑選自己的地盤，不過配送的產品可能來自多個地方。

Alibaba is tapping into consumers’ nostalgia for their rural roots with a heavy dose of marketing. The site features a Socialist Realist illustration of two women in a field of golden grain — harking back to the days of Mao Zedong, when farmers were lionized by propaganda. With images of shiny, red tomatoes, well-groomed pigs and other succulent fruits and vegetables, the program also promotes quality. Higher-end packages include tours of the farms.

阿里巴巴正在通過大舉營銷來挖掘消費者對他們根在農村的懷念之情。在聚土地網站的突出位置上，是一幅社會主義現實主義風格的圖畫，表現的是兩名女子站在一片金黃的麥田中，讓人想起了農民被宣傳成了名人的毛澤東時代。網站還對產品質量進行了宣傳，張貼了很多圖片，上面是紅得閃閃發亮的西紅柿、皮毛乾淨的豬以及其他一些鮮美的水果和蔬菜。較爲高端的套餐中包括參觀農場的選項。

The idea of having one’s own plot of land is attractive to Jiang Hui, a 27-year-old web editor. Typical for her generation, Ms. Jiang goes online to buy just about everything, so produce was an easy next step.

自己有塊地這個概念，對27歲的網站編輯蔣慧頗具吸引力。她幾乎什麼都是網購的。對她這一代人來說，這種情況很典型。因此，農產品順理成章地成爲了她的網購對象。

“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.”

“食品醜聞越來越多，把大家都變成了食品安全專家，”和父母生活在北京的蔣女士說。“我們看的文章越多，就越害怕，越謹慎。”

Alibaba has set ground rules for farmers. Farmers are required to separate the crops and treat them with lower amounts of pesticides.

阿里巴巴爲農民制定了基本規則，要求他們分開種植農作物，並減少農藥的用量。

“I am only allowed to spray pesticide on that piece of land once for every harvest. So I hire workers to pick pests by hand,” said Zhang Zhaohui, a 38-year-old farmer in the program. Samples of the mangoes are also independently tested before being shipped, he added.

“那塊地我每一季收成只能噴一次農藥。所以我請了工人用手捉蟲，”參加該項目的37歲農民張朝暉說。他還表示，裝運前芒果樣品還要接受獨立檢測。

Despite the extra costs, Mr. Zhang says he makes more on the mangoes he sells to Jutudi. “To me, they all seem really rich,” Mr. Zhang said of the customers.

儘管會產生額外的成本，但張朝暉稱，賣給聚土地的芒果會讓他賺得更多。談到消費者，他表示，“要我說，他們好像都真的很有錢。”

Joyvio is taking on a bigger challenge: the entire food chain.

佳沃集團則在應對更大的挑戰：整個食品供應鏈。

Started in 2009, it is now the largest provider of kiwis and blueberries in China. It controls everything, picking what seeds are planted, then tracking and collecting data each step of the way.

佳沃集團創立於2009年，現在是中國最大的獼猴桃和藍莓供應商。它控制着一切工序，從挑選種子，到追蹤和蒐集整個過程中每一步的數據。

Its nurseries are the stuff of science fiction. The room temperature and irrigation schedules are automatic and can be controlled remotely via a mobile phone or a computer. Seeds are grown in greenhouses, and plant tissue is cultivated in research labs.

它的育苗室像是來自科幻小說。室溫和灌溉計劃都是自動的，並且能通過移動電話或電腦遠程控制。種子播撒在溫室裏，植物組織則是在研究實驗室裏培育。

Taking a similar approach to Lenovo’s, Joyvio focused on acquiring technology and know-how to build its business.

佳沃採取了與聯想類似的方式，把精力主要放在了獲取技術和實踐來打造自己的業務上。

Executives studied foreign agriculture businesses. Joyvio hired a top American agronomist who specialized in the development of preservatives and microorganisms that work as natural pesticides. The company bought farms in Chile and Australia and partnered with two large Chilean fruit companies.

企業高管對外國農業企業進行了研究。佳沃聘請了一名頂尖的美國農學家。此人專門研發防腐劑，以及能有天然殺蟲劑功效的微生物。公司在智利和澳大利亞購買了農場，並與智利兩家大型水果公司開展了合作。

“We’ve leveraged our global capacity to bring a lot of new technology to China,” said Mr. Chen. “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.”

“我們利用在全球的實力，將大量新技術引入中國，”陳紹鵬說。“我們會繼續着眼於收購其他國家及中國的公司和農場，進一步提升我們提供高質量產品和商品的能力。”