According to the International Meat Secretariat, China accounts for more than half the world's pork production and consumption and is the fourth-largest beef producer. The group links 65 percent of the recent growth in global pork consumption to China.
Last year, Philip Seng, the secretariat's president, told Chinese meat producers that food safety was a major part of ensuring "greater integration of China in the world meat trade."
"Regulations are only as assuring and effective as the level of enforcement," Seng, also head of the US Meat Export Federation, told the China Meat Association. "China seems to be moving in the right direction in this regard."
As bird flu fears spread throughout Asia, and China moves to institute more bans, experts caution against tarring the country as a place where unsafe practices are rampant. They point to the bans as proof that a culture so focused on eating would ensure it's a safe activity.
"The Chinese people's traditional ways of cooking meat are safe -- especially in comparison to others. We boil and stir-fry and seldom eat raw," said Zhang, the food sciences professor. "We certainly don't care about food safety less than other countries do."
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