Staff members take samples from a market for an inspection of its food safety. [Photo/Baotou news network]

A member of staff analyses the food on site. [Photo/Baotou news network]

To ensure food safety for the general public, the city of Baotou – located in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region – continues to be ever-vigilant and it has been running a program for the "daily inspection coverage of food supervision in Baotou farmers markets" since 2017.

To date, 59 farmers' markets in the city have received full coverage from food inspections.

In August, the first Baotou Semi-finished Cuisine Industry Conference – focusing on the preprepared food sector – grabbed the attention of market players. Buyers queued in front of the stands of 50 well-known preprepared food manufacturers from Baotou and across the country to sample and purchase their wares.

Some 17 prepared food manufacturers are based in Baotou, with an annual output value of nearly 1 billion yuan ($137.97 million). In addition, the industry base in Baotou is in its Jiuyuan district.

In 2021, the city established a smart food supervision platform. High-definition cameras installed at food processing and production sites now transmit video to the public cloud platform, so that regulators and consumers alike can view the situation in kitchens and other food preparation places in real time.

Currently, more than 5,000 catering units are connected to the supervision platform and the canteen coverage in school campuses has reached 100 percent. It is estimated that by 2025, all catering units in the city will be under the platform's supervision.