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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2015, Vol. 14 Issue (11): 2176-2188    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(15)61114-5
Section 1: Policy and regulations Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
The third-party regulation on food safety in China: A review
 ZHANG Man, QIAO Hui, WANG Xu, PU Ming-zhe, YU Zhi-jun, ZHENG Feng-tian
1、School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, P.R.China
2、School of Continuing Education, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, P.R.China
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摘要  Stakeholders in the field of food safety management in China can be classified into three categories, government, food producers (farmers and enterprises), and the third-party regulatory bodies. The third-party regulation has experienced rapid development in past twenty years, and recently received considerable attention from consumers and the central government. This paper provides a review about the development, problems and future trend of the third-party regulation on food safety in China. To be specific, five forms of the third-party regulation are assessed, including media exposure, the third-party certification, regulation by consumer associations, social movements promoted by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and regulation by industry associations. The study concludes that media and consumer associations are the major players in the third-party regulation and are highly repudiated among customers. The food certification industry has developed rapidly, but is now facing crises of confidence among consumers because of its lack of self-regulation. NGOs and industry associations still remain in the early development stages of food safety management, and therefore, are of little importance in current regulatory bodies.

Abstract  Stakeholders in the field of food safety management in China can be classified into three categories, government, food producers (farmers and enterprises), and the third-party regulatory bodies. The third-party regulation has experienced rapid development in past twenty years, and recently received considerable attention from consumers and the central government. This paper provides a review about the development, problems and future trend of the third-party regulation on food safety in China. To be specific, five forms of the third-party regulation are assessed, including media exposure, the third-party certification, regulation by consumer associations, social movements promoted by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and regulation by industry associations. The study concludes that media and consumer associations are the major players in the third-party regulation and are highly repudiated among customers. The food certification industry has developed rapidly, but is now facing crises of confidence among consumers because of its lack of self-regulation. NGOs and industry associations still remain in the early development stages of food safety management, and therefore, are of little importance in current regulatory bodies.
Keywords:  food safety       China       the third-party regulation       media       certification  
Received: 24 December 2014   Accepted:
Fund: 

This research is support by two grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71173225 and 71272033). Any conclusion or recommendation expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. We sincerely thank the comments from anonymous reviewers.

Corresponding Authors:  ZHENG Feng-tian, Tel: +86-10-82509117,E-mail: zft2000@126.com     E-mail:  zft2000@126.com

Cite this article: 

ZHANG Man, QIAO Hui, WANG Xu, PU Ming-zhe, YU Zhi-jun, ZHENG Feng-tian. 2015. The third-party regulation on food safety in China: A review. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 14(11): 2176-2188.

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