The final of the 2023 national food industry seasoning taster skills competition takes place in Xinghua on April 1. [Photo provided to etaizhou.gov.cn]
The 2023 national food industry seasoning taster skills competition final was held on April 1 in Xinghua city, East China's Jiangsu province.
The professional skills contest for seasoning appraisers is an important part of the national industry vocational skills competition organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
The seasoning taster skills competition included a theoretical and a practical exam, with over 100 people participating.
The practical session was divided into 11 rounds, with the first four testing competitors' ability to distinguish between smell and taste, and the last seven testing the level of product sensory evaluation, in a bid to represent the skills needed in the seasoning industry.
This industry is currently on the rise, and statistics indicate that China's seasoning market in 2021 hit an estimated 423.44 billion yuan ($61.46 billion), up 7.2 percent year-on-year.
Xinghua city is known as a land of fish and rice, and is now busy promoting the development of its health food industry. The city has formed an industrial cluster based on seasonings, hot pot ingredients, rice flour products, seafood, prefabricated dishes, and more.
Xinghua now serves as a leading destination for food businesses due to its wide scope, covering neighboring cities such as Shanghai and Nanjing as well as and Anhui and Shandong provinces.
Xinghua Economic Development Zone, one of the co-organizers of the event, aims to build a health food industry cluster worth 100 billion yuan, with the food industry contributing 53 percent of the zone's total output value.
The Xinghua Economic Development Zone is striving to build a world-class seasoning industry cluster. [Photo provided to etaizhou.gov.cn]