The ongoing annual food and wine expo in Shanghai saw the Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Dan Jørgensen advocating for food from Denmark in the Danish Pavilion Wednesday.

This year's Food and Hospitality China expo saw Denmark represented by 14 Danish companies presenting the country's food and drink to China. Butter cookies from Denmark have already gained wide popularity in China and two main Danish producers reportedly have seen sales in China grow year-on-year by 49 percent to 14.2 million kilograms in 2013.

However, the minister told the Global Times that his country has a lot more to offer than cookies. "For instance, we have very good quality pork meat, the food safety of which is very high," he said. "We're a small country with a little bit more than 5 million people, but we produce almost 20 million pigs annually. That is something we take quite seriously in Denmark."

Dairy products are another sector that Denmark has experienced growth in its exports to China. According to Jørgensen, the big Danish company Arla and other Danish dairy producers doubled their sales to China from 2012 to 2013. "And they have made cooperation with the Chinese companies that lead us to believe that the growth will continue," he said.

A few domestic dairy product scandals have driven Chinese consumers to turn to imported dairy products. Jørgensen assured Chinese consumers of the quality of Danish dairy products, saying that there is a system where the government has total control of the entire production process from the field to the kitchen table. "We have total traceability and total transparency. And we have no history of food safety scandals with regards to dairy products," he said. "Whenever we have something that even raises a suspicion, we act on it immediately."

It was Jørgensen's second visit to China this year. The minister has been an active advocate for organic food from Denmark, which he believes has a lot of potential in China. "Chinese consumers are very quality-oriented," he said. "They are very concerned about health and food safety issues. This is exactly where we have the potential in the Danish organic food production, which is strictly state-controlled."

The minister said that Denmark is leading in the sense that there is no other place in the world where consumers buy so much organic food. Seven percent of all food sold in Denmark is organic, and the Danish government is now aiming to double the production of organic food.

Given the high cost of producing organically, Jørgensen said these products will of course be more expensive than food that is produced conventionally.

"For instance, if we talk about meat production, organic production raises demands on animal welfare, animal health and less use of antibiotics," he said. "It's the same with the organic production of other food where people have to apply other techniques instead of using pesticide."

But the minister is confident that Chinese consumers who are willing to make food safety, environmental friendliness and animal welfare their top priority are probably willing to pay a little bit more for their goods.

"Even though we acknowledge the price will be higher, we try to do it as price effective as we can," he said. "But above all, it is very hard to put a price on your health and the health of your children."