A lot of the meat sold in markets had been packed poorly or not at all.

Armed with the findings, officials at Sealed Air China set about finding ways of improving the situation.

They concluded that updating the packaging and distribution processes to meet the specific needs of different cities could greatly reduce waste.

"We learned that pig spine and bone products, for instance, were most popular in southern Guangdong province－meaning the price of pork per ton was between 4,000 yuan ($625) and 5,000 yuan higher there than in northern cities, where consumers preferred pure meat," explained Shen.

"We found that by minimizing waste right from the first stage of the logistics chain, and by providing better packaging at this stage, we could offer sellers and buyers a hygienic service, which could then extend the average shelf life of pork products from the current one to two days to, ideally, 15 to 20 days."