Beijing and Brussels will boost Chinese imports of Belgian pork using shared information systems

Pork may take its place beside chocolate, beer and diamonds as a Belgian specialty that is familiar to Chinese consumers.

A new agreement reached in June on exports of Belgian pork is expected to serve as a model for China of a new safe food import mechanism, and within the next few months allow Belgian pork producers to export directly to the Chinese mainland while increasing the number of Belgian pork firms involved in the trade.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain of Belgium and the Certification & Accreditation Administration of China.

China signed a pork importation agreement with Belgium in 2009, regarded as a milestone at the time in terms of China opening its domestic pork market to Belgian producers. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of pork.

But Chinese authorities approved only a few Belgian companies to export to China under that agreement, and they had to ship their products to Hong Kong first, before they were transshipped to the Chinese mainland.

Belgian pork products are shipped from Antwerp to Hong Kong at present, according to Thierry Smagghe, managing director of FEBEV, Belgium's meat federation.

"Then it's reshipped from Hong Kong to we don't know where," he says. "You don't know how long it takes, and you lose control over the timing, targets and cost."

A direct export model will eliminate problems over traceability, says Leo FW Delcroix, commissioner general of the Belgian government at the 2015 Milan Expo.

"It is really a great improvement in food safety. And it is also a process of building trust. Chinese consumers are very discerning when it comes to quality. We will learn from each other through close cooperation," says Delcroix.