Market supervision authorities in Nanjing recently held an expert seminar with a difference. They sought to nail down standards that would protect the product quality, flavour and reputation of arguably the city’s greatest contribution to Chinese cuisine.
Nanjingers are nuts about their duck. The city’s famed Duck Blood and Vermicelli Soup (鸭血粉丝汤) comprises duck blood, duck intestine and duck liver, together with other bits of duck thrown in for good measure, served in a duck soup (what else?) with vermicelli. Dished up in local restaurants, market forces tend to keep authenticity and standards at a high level.
But the problem is the Soup does not keep. And neither can it travel. If the vermicelli remains in liquid too long, it swells and seriously impacts on taste. Hence the invention of instant Duck Blood and Vermicelli Soup to satisfy consumers’ love of the food nationwide.
And so it was that the Nanjing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau and the Nanjing Food Quality and Safety Monitoring Centre held the recent seminar. Therein, experts provided suggestions for the high-quality development of the Soup and discussed the issues of product classification, executive standards, ratio of ingredients, identification and labelling.
So what’s the perfect number of intestines?
After the meeting, the Market Supervision Bureau issued a notice on matters related to enterprises holding food production licenses for Nanjing Duck Blood and Vermicelli Soup.
According to the notice, duck products shall not comprise less than 50 percent of instant Duck Blood and Vermicelli Soup. Likewise, solids should not comprise less than 50 percent of the total, reported Nanjing Daily.
In addition, the duck products utilised should be produced by each enterprise itself. In the case of vermicelli and other ingredients sourced from third-party suppliers, such should be clearly stated and the relevant food production license indicated on the outer packaging.
So why the song and dance over what is, at the end of the day, just a soup? Well, it’s not just a soup. Duck Blood and Vermicelli Soup is popular all over the country because of its mild taste and fresh fragrance; smooth and enjoyed by both northerners and southerners. It’s rare to satisfy both.
Moreover, Duck Blood and Vermicelli Soup is an important representative of the famed Jinling Snacks, also known as Qinhuai Snacks, a famed cultural icon of Nanjing.
So while the recent move fills the gap in the enterprise standard for the Soup, it also effectively ensures its quality, eliminates the concerns of diners and, perhaps most importantly of all, retains the old taste of Nanjing.
