Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Challenges for enforcing law and regulation on food safety in China

International Conference on Food Safety and Regulatory Measures

August 17-19, 2015 Birmingham, UK

Ying Zhu2 and Qijun Jiang1

1Shanghai Ocean University, China 2University of South Australia, Australia

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

In recent years China has experienced many crises related to food safety, which have challenged the legitimacy of institution and the notion of â??rule of lawâ?? society. Continuous negative media reports on food safety crises have damaged the reputation of relevant state law enforcement agencies and influenced consumer confidence. Based on recent interviews with multiple law enforcement agencies in the food safety area in Shanghai, this article aims to address a number of key research questions: what kind of law and regulation have been established and amended/improved in recent years in order to contain the wide spread food crises? How do the relevant law enforcement agencies implement and enforce the law and regulation? What are the alternative and innovative considerations and implementation methods could generate better outcomes? The outcome of this research indicates that the reactive mentality of law enforcement agencies by rigidly following rule and routine inspection methods could not prevent food crises effectively. More holistic and proactive thinking and methods of implementation and enforcement of law and regulation are needed, and this could include working together with multiple stakeholders (i.e., political leaders, community leaders, producers, wholesalers, retailers, consumers and media) to build a coalition of food-safety governance system to achieve better outcomes.

Biography :

Email: ying.zhu@unisa.edu.au