Today we continue City Weekend's Eat Right series and speak to Jane Tsao from BIOFarm. Jane is the founder of the organic super farm and tells us all about food safety in China.

What is BIOFarm?
We are an organic farm that produces seasonal vegetables and fruits. We are a grower and producer, and we sell our products mainly to hotels, restaurants and supermarkets. Our clients have included c!ty’super, the Park Hyatt, Parkson and Global Plaza.

What makes BIOFarm’s food different from local produce?
The most important thing we bring to our customers is food safety. The whole production process of organic farming gets rid of all these toxins and food pollution. When you spend the money, you expect to consume vegetables or fruit, not pesticides or chemicals.

What are the major concerns with food in China?
Greenpeace has reported that China uses three to four times more chemical fertilizer than developed countries. This is a huge issue in China.

What kind of conditions are livestock raised in?
Regular Chinese farms for poultry and livestock use a lot of antibiotics to prevent the animals from getting sick. They also use growth hormones to shorten growth periods. This adversely affects children who end up eating this meat, because they are also consuming the growth hormone.

Is there factory farming in China?
There’s some, but organic farming is starting to spread around the country. After the Olympics, and now with the Expo, there has been a lot of emphasis on sustainability. Everything in China changes quickly, but it still takes time.

Why should people switch to organic?
Eating organically will help the environment immensely. Many fertilizers that farmers use today contain nitrogen, which oxidizes to become nitrous oxide. That gas contributes a lot to global warming. If all agricultural land were used for organic farming, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by about one third.

Words by Monica Liau.

Is eating organic important to you? Where do you go to get organic produce in Shanghai?

Read more about eating right in Shanghai. See our other articles; organic food in China; Anna Maya's exclusive ethical recipe; vegetarianism in China and the top vegetarian restaurants in town.