Here’s one more issue to add to the bonfire of tensions with China brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The country is reportedly reopening its wet markets, the fresh produce stalls associated with Covid-19’s early spread in Wuhan.
It’s understandable that countries now in the grip of the first wave of infection might be outraged. Many blame wet markets for starting the outbreak in the first place. Opening them again, at a moment when thousands are dying overseas, seems emblematic of Beijing’s increasingly chauvinistic approach to world affairs.
Animals in wet markets are penned and slaughtered or sold live right next to stalls selling fruit and vegetables. Conditions, as my colleague Adam Minter has written, are often less than hygienic.
Places where a range of common and exotic animals mix together while bodily fluids flow freely may seem a fertile breeding ground for the virulent novel diseases that cross the species barrier to humans and occasionally become pandemics.
At the same time, let’s put the outrage on pause. Wet markets are increasingly losing ground to supermarkets in China. If they’re showing resilience as suppliers of fresh goods, it’s precisely because consumers regard them as a healthier and more sustainable alternative.
That perception isn’t inaccurate. The prevalence of food-borne microbial illness in developing East Asia suggests that far from being cesspits of disease, wet markets do a good job of providing households with clean, fresh produce. And while the origins of coronavirus remain obscure, they may have at least as much to do with more worldwide activities such as intensive farming as practices specific to Asia.
The attraction of wet markets isn’t so different from that of farmers’ markets in Western countries. In contrast to a supermarket model where multiple layers of retailers, wholesalers and logistics companies stand in between the consumer and the grower, wet markets offer a personal and direct connection between shopper, stallholder and farmer.
Consumers know the food is fresh because there’s generally little refrigeration, so everything must be sold on the day. If in doubt, they can ask the stallholder what’s in season and which produce is best at the moment. If they think one market looks unsanitary, they can choose to shop at another.
That helps explain how wet markets have managed to hold their own in spite of the growth of store-based retail in recent years. Supermarkets now account for about half of all grocery spending in China, up from about 36% in 1995, according to Euromonitor International. Add in convenience stores and the like and so-called modern grocery has about 68% of China’s retail wallet, giving wet markets less than a third.
Still, that store-based spending is overwhelmingly concentrated in packaged, rather than fresh produce. Foreign retailers that once hoped to dominate China’s staple goods sector such as Carrefour SA and Metro AG have struggled and sold out of local ventures — but wet markets are still going strong.
Also read: China’s love for wildlife meat to its authoritarianism — how coronavirus got out of hand
WOWWWWWWWW U R CHINA’S PAID MEDIA PROVED….HOW IT’S NOT A BAD IDEA??? THE CEO, THE PERSON WHO COLLECTED, EDITED, PRINTED MUST THEIR FAMILY GET CORONA LET ALL OF THEM SEE THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS DIEING IN FRONT OF THEM LTR SAY IT’S NOT A BAD IDEA!!!!
GO PRINT CEO AND LICK BLADY CHINESE FOOT …!
U FIT FOR THAT!!!
Didn’t expect it from The Print, I have lost all my faith in u… The world is still fighting with covid 19 and you brought up this article? Shame on you print by giving place to this article.
Indians must think how much we spend on Health it’s just 1pervrnt of GDP we must think where the problem lies in us not by blaming others for pandemic it’s wakeup call for all the Indian masses
Mujhe Lagta hai wet market ko band Kar dena chahey.
This is Chinese propaganda.And as of now world is not buying it.
Another paid article from China
People are still infected from this Chinese virus around global
What Chinese are upto bio war
This in not good for China and people
Thay are only going to pay for it soon or later
Remember God is watching
Absolutely stupid ?……
This is the most disgusting article I have read, the person who wrote this must be totally oblivious to the fact that over a million people are infected with coronovirus which started in a wet market in wuhan China, there are no infectious disease control, animals are caged in proximity to other species and that is not to mention the hideous cruelty inflicted upon these poor animals who should not be there in the first place,China has quoted that wet markets with wildlife animals are permanently banned but obviously this is not the case and shame on the person who wrote this article ,counties governments should stand together and the who and demand these markets be closed in China and all other countries at least in the name of some kind of justice for the thousands who have died,nature is fighting back and if this is not stopped it will happen again.
Lol.
How much did CCP pay for this idiotic article? You’ve a responsibility to your readers. Don’t lose your spine for some petty money. Yuck. Disgusting.
If you go against eating forbidden animals this what happens.they haven’t learned from their mistake.
Why people around me will always worry about these media especially Print, The Wire, NDTV etc who are the puppies of the Red, they are very good speakers who’ll Twist or Break the matter in their favour by showing the least bothered thing in a spectacle microscope.
this is madness……..its their Government’s greed….most of the Chinese citizens doesn’t have any interest for exotic animals meat….
Defending the indefensible. These wet markets are cruel, inhumane, unhygienic, barbaric and are ‘superhighways’ for zoonotic diseases to cross from poor animal victim to human. Not to mention the fact that endangered species are being slaughtered and consumed….. time to shut them down!
Are you paid by chinese?
At last you also came to take Barton for the chaina , . It’s well known ,that chaina already purchase various media house through the world , like WHO . But we don’t know in how much money you sold yourself to communist party .
Thanks for writing this Print. You proved yourselves that you are nothing but absolute nonsense and chinese influenced.
Stupid people this people can never learn a lesson n coz of them the rest of the world has to suffer
What a sycophant author. Are they giving you free chinese toys for writing this? Only a certified nincompoop would write this kind mind-numbing justification. Search and you will know how many died and how many families suffered just because some chinese were too fond of eating their fansy cuisine. Dig up some info before writing any stupid story you want. The least you can do is be sensitive and that probably is the only contribution people like you can make to this society and humanity.