The China Live Pork and Fresh Meat Ingredients Industry Development Conference and the joint launch ceremony for “Building Together · China Live Pork and Fresh Meat Ingredients Industry Base” were held in Guigang, Guangxi, from 10 to 29–30. Academicians, experts, government departments, industry associations, universities and research institutes, and representatives of companies across the industry chain gathered under the theme “Fresh Pork from China, Creating a Fresh Future Together.” They exchanged views on standards development, processing innovation, supply chain coordination, and consumer demand for fresh meat ingredients, seeking a practical, replicable path for the pig industry to move from breeding to ingredients. The China Food Industry Association Brand Strategy Working Committee, the Institute of Food Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University, Dalian Polytechnic University, and Guangxi Yangxiang Group Co., Ltd. officially unveiled the “China Live Pork and Fresh Meat Ingredients Industry Base” as its five co-building partners.
(Panoramic view of the conference
Academician Zhu Beiwei of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and more than one hundred representatives from government, industry associations, universities and research institutes, pig slaughtering and meat processing companies, quick-frozen prepared food and catering supply chain companies, mainstream media, and other sectors gathered to witness a key step in the upgrading of China’s pig industry toward fresh meat ingredients.
I. A visit across the entire chain reveals the confidence behind “freshness”
On the 10th month, 29th day, the attending guests visited Yangxiang Xinshiji Food Factory, Yingkang Slaughterhouse, the FPF Future Pig Farm Exhibition Hall, and the Wandechu Smart Cooking Exhibition Hall in succession. From intelligent farming and precision nutrition to modern slaughtering, and from smart food manufacturing to intelligent cooking, the guests learned firsthand how each stage operates and gained a clear understanding of the complete path by which “one pig” is transformed into “a table of quality ingredients.”
This visible chain is precisely the industrial foundation for establishing the base in Guigang—the base is not a nameplate standing on its own; it grows on production lines, in workshops, and in every handoff from a pig to a plate of food.
Guests attending the event visited Xinshiji Food Factory, Yingkang Slaughterhouse, the FPF Future Pig Farm Exhibition Hall, and the Wandekitchen Smart Cooking Exhibition Hall.
II. A multi-stakeholder discussion focuses on new questions surrounding fresh pork ingredients
On 10 month 30 day, the conference officially opened, hosted by Gao Yuanfei, Party Committee Secretary of Yangxiang Group. The representatives delivering remarks charted a course for this industrial upgrade from five perspectives: policy, branding, technology, talent, and business practice.
As a major pig-producing region in China, Guigang is the ideal place for the base. Liu Qi, member of the Standing Committee of the Guigang Municipal Party Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, introduced the foundations of Guigang’s pig industry in his remarks. Guigang is an important hub for the pig industry in southwest China, and all 5 counties (county-level cities and districts) are among China’s major hog-exporting counties. In the first three quarters of this year, the city’s hog output reached 312.3 ten thousand head, and pork production reached 26 ten thousand tons, ranking among the top in Guangxi. However, Guigang’s pig industry places greater emphasis on raising pigs than on processing, making industrial transformation an urgent need. Liu Qi said that Guigang would fully support the base’s development by providing industrial capacity, policy coordination, and a supportive business environment, and would support the parties jointly developing the base in exploring solutions to key industry challenges, such as standards development, processing innovation, and supply chain coordination, thereby accelerating Guigang’s shift from “industrial strengths” to “brand strengths.”
Liu Qi, Member of the Standing Committee of the Guigang Municipal Committee of the CPC and Executive Vice Mayor, delivered a speech
In the brand journey, branding is both the starting point and the destination. Guang Jingchuan, Deputy Secretary-General of the Brand Strategy Working Committee of the China Food Industry Association, said that a lack of standards and insufficient coordination still stand between the industry and consumers,TechnologyTo overcome the three major hurdles to implementation, the launch of the base formally marks a key step in turning consumers’ demand for freshness into collective action across the industry. The association will continue to focus on three areas: taking the lead in developing a group standard for “fresh pork ingredients,” so freshness is backed by clear standards; launching an ingredient nutrition education and promotion initiative, so freshness can be seen and trusted; and establishing a regular industry dialogue mechanism, so freshness can be replicated and promoted.
Address by Guang Jingchuan, Deputy Secretary-General of the Brand Strategy Working Committee of the China National Food Industry Association
Liu Rongrong, director of the Institute of Food Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and deputy secretary of its Party Committee, delivered remarks on behalf of the research institutions. She said that research tasks should originate in industry, and research findings should also return to industry. Regarding the development of the base, the Institute of Food Science and Technology will deepen research into the preservation and freshness retention of fresh meat ingredients, as well as the development of deep-processed productstechnologySupport, enabling research outcomes to play a role in industrial settings, while also bringing in more talent andtechnologyDirect resources to Guangxi and invest in the base, providing more technological support for the transformation and upgrading of China’s high-quality meat and pig industries.
Remarks by Liu Rongrong, Director and Deputy Party Secretary of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Zhang Yongjun, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of Huazhong Agricultural University, addressed the needs of industrial innovation from the perspective of the university’s disciplinary strengths. He said that the university has a strong foundation in areas including pig farming, breeding, and food science and engineering. Using “Jointly Building · China’s Fresh Pork Ingredients Industry Base” as a platform, it will continue to deepen industry-academia-research collaboration, provide the base and the industry with more highly qualified, innovative, top-tier talent, ensure that research topics originate in industry and research outcomes return to industry, better align disciplinary and talent development with industrial needs, and promote the application of scientific and technological achievements on the front lines of industry.
Zhang Yongjun, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee and Vice President of Huazhong Agricultural University, delivered a speech.
Dalian Polytechnic University Party Committee Secretary Yuan Xiaojie said that the university is exploring a model of interdisciplinary collaboration to serve local industries with distinctive characteristics, forming a process from basic research,technologyA complete chain from development to the commercialization of results. Dalian Polytechnic University will make full use of the strengths of its food science discipline and academician team, deepen collaboration among all parties, and work together to build the China Fresh Pork Ingredients Base into a demonstrable, replicable, and sustainable model platform, making a greater contribution to promoting the high-quality development of China’s pig industry.
(Remarks by Yuan Xiaojie, Secretary of the Party Committee of Dalian Polytechnic University)
He Bing, Vice Chairman of Yangxiang Group, explained in his address that Yangxiang has focused on the pig industry since its founding in 1998. It has built an integrated industry chain spanning “feed, breeding, raising, slaughtering, and meat,” with the core objective of using its full-industry-chain capabilities to turn “non-standard” agricultural products into fresh meat ingredients that meet “high standards and are traceable.” Looking ahead, Yangxiang will use base construction as a link to deepen industry-academia-research collaboration and ecosystem coordination, ensuring that high-quality meat can be produced, seen, and trusted.
He Bing, Vice Chairman of Yangxiang Group, delivered a speech
Three, the base launch marks the start of a new stage through collaboration between government, business, schools, and the university
After the speeches, the conference moved on to the joint launch ceremony for the “Jointly Building the China Live Pig Fresh Meat Ingredients Industry Base.” Academician Zhu Beiwei of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Liu Qi, Member of the Standing Committee of the Guigang Municipal Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, and representatives of the co-building partners jointly launched the “Jointly Building the China Live Pig Fresh Meat Ingredients Industry Base.” The base is jointly built by five parties: the Brand Strategy Working Committee of the China National Food Industry Association, the Institute of Food Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University, Dalian Polytechnic University, and Guangxi Yangxiang Group Co., Ltd. It is more than just a plaque; it is also a commitment—to safeguard quality through standards, enhance value through technology, earn trust through branding, and answer the question of whether people in China can enjoy truly good pork through capabilities across the entire industry chain.
Going forward, the base will continue to advance initiatives such as developing group standards for fresh pork ingredients and providing public education on consumer nutrition, so that every step in getting quality ingredients from the source to the table is supported by evidence.
Unveiling and Launch Ceremony for the “Jointly Built Chinese Fresh Pork Ingredient Base”
After the opening ceremony, Yangxiang FoodsTechnologyDeputy General Manager 牛猛 unveiled seven new products: 菘油一号板蓝根青菜 fresh pork dumplings, lime and cheese fresh meat sausages, astragalus and goji berry fresh meat sausages, yam and purple sweet potato boba sausages, char siu-flavored boba sausages, juicy fresh meat sausages, and Guizhou sour soup-style pork trotter casserole. From fresh, high-quality pork to pure fresh meat sausages, fresh pork dumplings, and prepared pork products, 扬翔食品 is turning its whole-industry-chain capabilities into products consumers can see, eat, and use, offering ingredient solutions for settings such as retail and food service.
Using fresh meat throughout the process, from slaughter to processing, without frozen meat, is Yangxiang’s unique industrial-chain advantage in the fresh-meat sector. This launch brought that advantage to the product, so that a piece of fresh meat retains the taste it had when it left the factory all the way from the factory to the kitchen; and so that food-service customers receive not just ingredients, but a product they can put straight into the pan and reproduce consistently. During the new-product tasting, guests shared their impressions of the texture, flavor, convenience, and other aspects.
Four: In-Depth Discussion—Experts Identify a New Path for Development
During the conference’s featured presentations, several experts spoke fromTechnologyExplore topics including cutting-edge developments, market trends, quality innovation, consumption scenarios, and livestock farming origins; break down and explain “fresh pork ingredients from China” in detail, forming a thread that starts fromTechnologyThe complete logical chain from reaching the market and then returning to the source.
Chinese Academy of Engineering academician and food engineering expert Zhu Beiwei, speaking on “AI Empowering the Food Industry4.0 and Cooking Agents,”TechnologyThe opening of “Leap Forward: Reshaping the Fresh Meat Ingredient Ecosystem” presents a forward-looking vision for the intelligent transformation of the fresh meat ingredient ecosystem. She proposed that the food industry has entered the age of intelligent technology, and that AI has become the core driving force behind a new model for providing high-quality food with “zero cooking skills,” connecting household, food service, and industrial settings. This has created new demands for reshaping the fresh meat ingredient ecosystem: standardized quality, ingredients tailored to specific uses, and intelligent supply.
Chinese Academy of Engineering academician and food engineering expert Zhu Beiwei
Chief Scientist of the Meat Science and Nutrition Engineering Innovation Team at the Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Director and Party Committee Secretary of the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhang Dequan shared “Keeping Fresh Meat Fresh, Preserving Its Freshness, and Understanding Its FreshnessTechnologyResearch Progress.” He pointed out that to preserve fresh meat, we must address three major industry challenges: changes in the quality of fresh meat itself, shelf life, and losses. The report reviews advances in scientific and technological innovation in fresh meat in three areas—locking in freshness, preserving freshness, and assessing freshness—and provides a scientific basis for quality control throughout the fresh meat supply chain.TechnologySupport.
Zhang Dequan, Director and Party Committee Secretary of the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Huazhong Agricultural University Food ScienceTechnologyDean Xu Xiaoyun shared “From Digitalization to Intelligence: Pathways and Practices for the Transformation and Upgrading of the Food Industry.” Drawing on the defining characteristics of the food industry’s digital and intelligent transformation, she noted that digitalization and intelligence are not successive stages in which one replaces the other, but rather outcomes of progressively enhanced capabilities. By enabling data to inform decisions and bringing intelligent technologies into real-world industry settings, she analyzed in-depth practical cases of transformation and upgrading in the food industry, providing an implementation pathway for industrial upgrading built around the smallest starting unit to support the shift from digitalization to intelligence.
Food Science, Huazhong Agricultural UniversityTechnologyCollege Dean Xu Xiaoyun
Vice President of the China Meat Association Gao Guan outlined the value potential of fresh meat ingredients from a market perspective in a presentation titled “New Trends in the Development of China’s Meat Industry and New Opportunities in the Fresh Meat Market.” He noted that China’s meat industry is shifting from “competing on production volume” to competing on quality, deep processing, and resilience across the entire supply chain. The fresh meat market is moving from “selling whole dressed carcasses” to selling cuts, quality, services, and brands. The shift toward chilled meat, precise cutting, and new channels such as instant retail, community stores, and direct supply to restaurants is opening up new value potential for fresh meat ingredients.
Gao Guan, Vice President of the China Meat Association
Sun Haiqing, Nutrition Director of the Pig Farming Division of Yangxiang Group, concluded with “Nutrition Empowers Better Pork: Feed Nutrition and Fresh Pork Quality Improvement,” returning to the source of pig farming. He said that the foundation of quality ingredients on the dining table always lies in nutrition and health management at the farming end, and that feed nutrition is a fundamental part of improving fresh pork quality. In his presentation, he explored the key factors affecting pork quality and used detailed data to show how nutritional regulation can improve meat quality and flavor.
Sun Haiqing, Nutrition Director of Yangxiang Group’s Swine Business Division
From AI empowerment to freshness preservation, from industry-wide developments to quality innovation, from market trends to food-service practices, and then to nutrition at the source, each topic built on the last, and the path “from one pig to a table of quality ingredients” gradually came into focus through the discussions. The conference established a brand, launched a range of products, and shared a wealth of practical insights. More importantly, it forged a consensus: the future of China’s pig farming industry lies not in the pigsty, but on the dining table; not in output, but in value.
“Chinese fresh pork, creating a fresh future together.” Alongside “fresh,” the word “together” was also central to the entire conference: the bases were jointly built, the standards were jointly formulated, the market was shared, and the future could only be created together.
With the conference concluded, the “Jointly Built China Pork Fresh Meat Ingredient Industry Base” has entered the implementation stage. In the next phase, the parties jointly developing the base will continue their efforts in formulating group standards, promoting public nutrition education, and facilitating industry and sector exchanges, turning fragmented industry capabilities into an ingredient supply that is connected, traceable, and trusted. Taking Guigang’s industrial foundation and Yangxiang Group’s full-industry-chain practices as examples, collaboration among government, businesses, universities, schools, and research institutions will drive the sector’s shift from “transporting live animals” to “transporting fresh meat” and its upgrade from “selling raw materials” to “selling brands,” exploring a practical, replicable path for the hog industry to move from breeding to food ingredients!
Group photo of the event guests