On December 1, the Health Commission of Heilongjiang Province held a press conference on food safety and announced the release of the“Heilongjiang Province Food Safety Local Standard: Loniceracaerulea”.This standardwillofficially be implemented on February 5, 2021. Professor Zhang Yanlong, Deputy County Head of Boli County on Secondment and Associate Dean of the School of Life Sciences at our university, led the project for drafting this standard. Theofficial release of this standard is one of our university’s key contributions to local economic development and poverty alleviation.

Professor Zhang Yanlong and relevantofficials from Bureau of Industry and Information TechnologyinBoli County attended the product launch, and after thatthey displayed and promotedLonicera caeruleaproducts. More than 10 media participated in the post-conference interviews.

Since the launch of the"Heilongjiang Provincial Food Safety Local Standard: Lonicera caerulea"project on December 28, 2018, Professor Zhang Yanlong and his team have participated infive meetings organized by the Provincial Health Commission. During each meeting, they conducted on-site defense and argumentation. They collected samples from 30differentlocations across the province and conducted extensive work, including toxicological tests, safety evaluations, and hygiene standards assessments. After nearly two years of hard work, the"Heilongjiang Provincial Food Safety Local Standard: Lonicera caerulea"wasfinally released.

In our province,Lonicera caerulea (also known as indigo gem berry/honey berry)is aspecial local product with a large yield, good quality, rich nutrition, high economic value andpromising development prospects. It isnot onlysuitable formaking candiedpreserved fruit, jam, fruitcake and driedfruit,but it can also be used to brew fruit wine, refreshing drinks and other products. Shallow mountain areas in our province such as Boli County own advantaged resources and industrial advantages. However, due to the lack of corresponding food safety standards, lonicera caerulea and its products can't enter the market as ordinary food,this situationseriously hinders the development oflonicera caerulea industry in our province."Heilongjiang Provincial Food Safety Local Standard: Lonicera caerulea"hasestablishedthe legal status oflonicera caerulea and its products entering the market as ordinary food, andaddressed the pain points and blocking points ofthe industry development.Lonicera caerulea production enterprises in Heilongjiang Province will usher in the "spring" of industrial development, and at the same time stimulate the development of other industries in our province,all of these are of great significance to the development and expansion oflonicera caerulea industry in our province,increasing the employment rate, helping poverty alleviation and promoting economic development.