Hunt for herbal health secrets hits China

A group of food manufacturers, retailers and academics will visit China next month to identify ingredients and technologies that could be applied to the UK's functional foods industry.

The trip to Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai was co-ordinated by the government's Food Processing Knowledge Transfer Network, which links industry and research institutions.

The focus will be on Chinese herbal remedies, said mission leader Bob Marsh. "Claims for Chinese herbal medicines suggest a huge pharmacopoeia of diseases, which can be treated using single or multiple plant phytochemicals. In recent years, considerable effort has gone into trying to understand the scientific basis of these claims at both the China Agriculture University and China Agriculture Academy in Beijing.

"Parallel approaches are being taken in UK universities, but without the rich tradition and culture of plant materials on which to draw," said Marsh.

Plant breeding programmes were also enhancing the levels of available phytochemicals in crops, he said. "China's food industry is developing at an astonishing rate and cannot be ignored by the west. There are more than 100 universities and research centres working on production and processing issues."

Food and drink trade between the EU and China is growing rapidly, according to latest figures from the Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU (CIAA). It said that exports increased by 24% in 2005 to euro 765M. Imports were 29% higher at euro 2.155bn, accounting for 5% of total food and drink imports into the EU. Chinese exports were 72% higher than in 2000 and imports 42% higher.

The CIAA said that EU exports worldwide increased by 5.2% in 2005, to euro 47.6bn, with a 5.5% growth in imports to euro 43bn. The positive trade surplus of euro 4.49bn followed five years of falling trade balance, said the CIAA.