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On the occasion of the International Women's Day, the Beijing Women's Federation, the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions, and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security announced the “Beijing March 8 Red-flag Bearer” and the “Beijing March 8 Red-flag Collective" in 2024. Professor Chen Xiangning of the College of Food Science and Engineering was awarded the "Beijing March 8 Red-flag Bearer".

Chen Xiangning has been dedicated to the front lines of education for many years, and is committed to the research of fresh-cut fruit and vegetable preservation technology and safety management. She is a technical leader and promoter for the growth of China’s fresh-cut fruit and vegetable industry. She was appointed a member of the Joint Expert Committee on Food Safety (Catering Services) for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, serves as a member of the Beijing Food Safety Committee, and is leading the development of "Processing and Preservation of Agricultural Products” – a priority discipline of Beijing. She has been awarded a number of honorary titles, such as the “Model Worker of Beijing", the “Outstanding Contributor to Promoting Cultural and Ethical Progress in Beijing", the "Great Wall Scholar", and the "Beijing Young and Middle-aged Backbone Teacher”. She was also the winner of seven provincial and ministerial awards for her achievements in education and teaching, driving progress in science and technology, and promoting agricultural technology.

An educator committed to cultivating new types of talents who know and love agriculture

During the 29 years working in the forefront of education and scientific research, Chen Xiangning has cultivated many outstanding talents through actively reforming and innovating teaching methods and using scientific research to feedback teaching. She is fully committed to educating people. By closely following the needs of the food industry and tracking the latest domestic and international trends in technology, she has fostered the students’ awareness of innovation and their problem-solving abilities. She has trained many professional talents for the development and safety of the food industry and many graduates have become industry leaders or the mainstay of food companies and technical units. Recently, students under her supervision have made progress in “highly sensitive intelligent packaging materials” and published their research results in authoritative journals in food science.

To better leverage the advantages of industry-university-research cooperation, Chen Xiangning has established professor workstations and student internship bases in enterprises, to build a communication platform between students and the industry. The "Research Institute for the Processing and Preservation of Agricultural Products” set up by a team and the graduate student class led by her became one of the first batch of the key laboratories under the joint development with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs – the Key Laboratory of Agricultural Product Processing and Quality Control. She has played a key role in the development of the priority discipline “Processing and Preservation of Agricultural Products” of Beijing. With a number of “Outstanding Graduate Students” awards won by the students under her supervision, she was appointed by the Beijing Youth League Committee as the "Innovation and Entrepreneurship Mentor for the Capital University Students."

Focusing on high-level technological innovation to promote high-quality development of the industry

As a technology leader and promoter in China's fresh-cut fruit and vegetable industry, she drafted the country's first production license rules and the national food safety standard for ready-to-eat fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. The modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) preservation technology system she established successfully extended the shelf life of fresh-cut fruit and vegetable products by 2-9 days from the original 3-5 days, reaching the international advanced level. From equipment, processes, packaging materials to preservation technology and production standardization, Chen Xiangning carried out comprehensive key technical innovation and integration in the fresh-cut fruit and vegetable industry, and has widely applied and promoted these achievements, which has greatly promoted the high-quality growth of the fresh-cut fruit and vegetable industry, increased the added value of agricultural products, and injected new momentum into rural revitalization.

Playing an active role in providing technical support for key events

With a big-picture vision, Professor Chen acted proactively to take part in ensuring safety in food supply for key events and construction projects such as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the Daxing International Airport. As a member of the Joint Expert Committee on Food Safety (Catering Services) for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, she participated in the drafting and approval of the 11 standards relevant to Olympics food supply, and was responsible for the selection of food companies as the head of the expert group. Under her direction, the companies successfully guaranteed the supply of pre-cleaned vegetables for the Winter Olympics, and achieved the 100% completion of the two goals in quantity and safety of the pre-cleaned vegetables supplied to the core area. She guided the safe production of the Zhangziying Airline Food Base and provided strong technical support to ensure food safety in catering services for the Daxing Airport. As the technical head, Chen Xiangning also guided the establishment of the fresh-cut vegetable processing plant, a poverty alleviation project in Zhangbei area, and made it a vegetable supplier for the Winter Olympics, positively contributing to targeted poverty alleviation and the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.

Chen Xiangning has demonstrated the exceptional charisma and courageous spirit of women in the new era with her practical actions. She said that she would cherish the honor and make persistent efforts. Under the strong leadership of the Party Committee, she would focus on the main task of "promoting the high-quality development of the university by following the Master Plan on Building China into A Leading Country in Education" and take the “Year of Practical Work and Pioneering" as the starting point, to devote her energy to teaching and education, research and innovation and social service with higher goals, stricter standards and greater enthusiasm, and continue to make new and meaningful contributions to the development of education and the industry.