A new 3,000-sq-m food market in Qidong provides convenience to surrounding residents. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

The first smart food market in the county-level city of Qidong in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, opened for business on June 11.

Qidong Xincheng Agriculture Development Co Ltd employed smart systems and platforms to build a smart food market in which commodities are marked with clear prices and can be traced back to their source.

The company also set up a big data safety management platform to trace the safety status of agricultural products during their journey from place of origin to market.

The market has a business area of about 3,000 square meters and sells 13 types of food, including vegetables, meat, aquatic products, poultry eggs, and bean products.

Moving forward, Xincheng Agriculture plans to introduce smart refrigerated cabinets into several communities in Qidong's urban area. The smart cabinets will be able to control temperatures at the end of the cold-chain food transportation and distribution process, making the fresh food purchased by citizens safer and fresher.