Traceability and IT: implications for the future international competitiveness and structure of China's vegetable sector

This paper identifies the key aspects of traceability for vegetable producers, wholesalers, processors, trade associations, government and food hygiene and safety authorities and outlines the core elements of modem IT-based vegetable traceability systems. The internal and external pressures for a traceability system and the barriers to adoption in China are explored in the context of its vegetable sector. It then highlights current developments in China and some of the barriers to adopting and implementing IT based traceability which would meet accepted international norms, thereby integrating the Chinese vegetable industry with prevalent global best practices. We conclude that the Chinese vegetable industry may lose much of its competitive advantage in world vegetable markets if it fails to introduce and enforce, traceability systems but that the costs of introduction may be beyond certain sections of the industry, thereby leading to a two-speed and two-tier vegetable sector.