The Chinese authorities have always paid great attention to the supply of the necessities of the people¡¯s daily life. As early as in the 1950s, efforts were made to build vegetable-producing bases so as to realize a sustained supply of adequate and good-quality vegetables to the urban residents all the year round. Since the adoption of the policy of reforming and opening to the outside world, owing to the reform in the production-marketing system and an increase in the input of science and technology and, especially, to the implementing of the responsibility system of putting the mayors in charge of the ¡°shopping cart project¡±, a pattern of large-scale production, circulation and marketing of ¡°shopping cart¡± commodities is gradually taking shape. In various regions of the country, the ¡°shopping cart¡± commodities are adequate in quantity, diversified in variety, good in quality and balanced in supply. For most of such commodities, their trade is characterized by a buyers¡¯ market, where competition is becoming tense. The customers require greater diversity and better quality of the commodities. Therefore, it is timely and urgent to introduce eco-friendly and wholesome foods for the Chinese people.
By ¡°shopping cart commodities¡± are meant animal products like meat, poultry, eggs and fish, on the one hand, and plant products like vegetables, fruits and flowers, on the other. With a nutriological point of view, vegetables
