Refute the rumor why strawberries are still unsalable in a large area?

On April 26, the media bought eight strawberries from the market and "detected Acetochlor exceeding the standard", thus coming to the conclusion that strawberries are "carcinogenic", causing panic among consumers. On May 1, this newspaper published "Strawberry Pesticide residue exceeding the Standard causing Cancer". Is it true? It is reported that no Acetochlor was detected in 175 samples taken in Beijing. From many aspects such as "if Acetochlor is used, strawberry seedlings will be removed", it is logically proved that the detection of Acetochlor on strawberries is not credible. On May 2, People's Daily also published a report saying that "eating strawberries causes cancer" is unreliable. Subsequently, the major media and websites have followed up and reported.

In theory, this "strawberry incident" should come to an end. However, the domestic strawberry market is still light, and the market price in the main producing areas has plummeted by more than 40%. On May 6, agricultural products trading platform "one mu of farmland" disclosed that the price of strawberries in seven major producing areas, including Liaoning, Hebei and Jilin, fell to 1 yuan from 480 yuan in mid-April, and strawberries in some areas even fell below 1 yuan. In only half a month, 6000 strawberry greenhouses in Changping District of Beijing lost more than 26 million yuan.

Now that the mainstream media have refuted the rumors, why did the strawberry industry suffer such huge losses? The similar situation is not limited to this year's strawberries, the so-called "expansion agent" watermelon, Hainan "banana cancer", "big food fly" citrus, and so on, farmers still have to suffer a long time after refuting the rumor. What's the reason?

First, the "first cause effect" is at work. People are always more likely to believe the information they are exposed to for the first time and to be skeptical of later claims. At the same time, the "first cause effect" also has the characteristic of persistence, which can strongly and persistently influence people's thinking and behavior under the preconceived biased cognition. Reflected in the strawberry incident, many consumers chose to "keep your mouth shut".

Second, most consumers have the mentality of "preferring to believe what they have rather than believing they have nothing". Strawberries as an import, related to everyone's health, coupled with strawberries are not a necessity of life, consumers will be extremely cautious when choosing whether to eat or not to eat.

Third, for the injured side of the strawberry incident, the first time to make an appropriate response is an important part of reducing the loss to a minimum. But "the rumors are all over the sky, and the truth is still wearing shoes." You know, in the world of the Internet and self-media, a few days is enough to solidify this news into a deep-rooted perception of most people. Of course, after the incident, the relevant departments also made a corresponding response, such as the release of sampling results, pesticides, plant protection, quality inspection experts came forward to demonstrate, and so on. But how to transmit such a voice to consumers through more and more convenient channels is worthy of further consideration.

It has been half a month, and the damage to the strawberry industry will be hard to eliminate in the short term. There are still some things to think about.

In recent years, the degree of organization of agricultural production and management in China has been increasing, but it is far from enough relative to the development of the market. The situation of small-scale production in thousands of households is widespread, and when there is a crisis in the industry, it is difficult to make an effective response in time and clarify the facts quickly. Take this strawberry incident as an example, it is very difficult for a single strawberry grower or cooperative, or even an agricultural enterprise, to have the energy, time, money and ability to deal with it reasonably, which leads to the delay and weakness of public relations in the crisis. Therefore, it is particularly necessary to improve the degree of organization of agricultural production and operation, and to enhance the ability of industrial crisis public relations and dealing with emergencies.

In addition, we should further strengthen the publicity of agricultural product market information, increase the transparency of information, avoid collateral damage to the whole industry due to individual cases, and regain consumer confidence.

Food safety is more important than days, which is related to the health of the people. In the supervision of food safety, the media should also clarify their own responsibilities. while supervising food safety and safeguarding the rights and interests of consumers, they should also safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of producers and be based on facts. and minimize the damage and accidental injury to an industry as far as possible. Therefore, we should be more scientific, more rigorous and more cautious on this issue.

Generally speaking, the quality and safety of agricultural products in China is reliable, and the safety of consumption is guaranteed. In the field of strawberry production, we have also established a strict safety supervision system and improved the quality traceability system. What kind of medicine to use, when to use it, how much medicine to use, and even the channels to buy pesticides are all fixed. It is believed that with the further improvement of the degree of agricultural organization, the continuous improvement of the supervision system of the quality and safety of agricultural products and the increasing intensity of supervision, the quality and safety of agricultural products will be more effectively guaranteed.