Government regulations and voluntary certifications in food safety in China: A review

Background: With the improvement of living standards, people are paying increasing attention to the quality of food. From the perspective of food companies, there are two driving powers to improve quality: government regulations as the external factor and voluntary certifications as the internal factor. Regulation is an intervention on the market by the government through administrative means. The third-party certification voluntarily sought by companies, which enhances company competitive advantage through improving consumers' acceptance and recognition, belongs to internal driving force. Scope and approach: Beginning with the current food safety situation in China, this paper describes the changes in government regulatory agencies and compares the similarities and differences of regulatory systems with the United States, the European Union and Japan. This study examines the development of the Chinese food safety regulatory system since 1949, which can be a reference to other developing countries. Moreover, this paper explains the current status of product certifications and system certifications in China. Key findings and conclusions: Lack of social responsibility, inadequate awareness of food risks, pursuit of short-term economic benefits and poor processing technology are the root causes of food safety incidents in China. Based on the analysis of food safety regulation system in China and comparison with the systems in other developed counties. The authors proposed two suggestions. The first suggestion is to reform food safety system, such as formulating food safety laws, enforcing social supervision and so on. The other suggestion is to encourage small and medium food companies to implement product and system certifications.