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Regulatory Issues in Organic Food Safety in the Asia Pacific pp 11–34Cite as

Understanding the Regulation of Ecological Food in China: Regulatory Intermediation, Path Dependence and Legal Pluralism

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Abstract

Ensuring food safety and quality for ordinary people in China is a continuing challenge. Among the major responses to this challenge has been ecological food, which can be defined as the product of ‘ecological agriculture (shengtai nongye). Ecological food in China takes three principal forms: hazard-free food (wu gonghai, also known as ‘pollution-free’ or ‘no public harm’ food), green food (lűse shipin) and organic food (youji shipin). This chapter identifies the major factors which have shaped the regulation of ecological food in China. It first examines how these forms of ecological food have been regulated so far. It then offers a theoretical explanation for the co-existence of these forms by referring to the theories of regulatory intermediaries, path dependence and legal pluralism. The discussion shows that the distinctive Chinese pattern of regulating ecological food tends to perpetuate lack of consumer trust, domestic regulatory competition, tensions between different economic interests, and conflicts among national food policy objectives. It also suggests, however, that the Chinese model may in the short run be a useful template for many other countries seeking to improve food safety and food quality, while in the long run it appears to be consistent with current global developments in the regulation of ecological food.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I am grateful to GOH Bee Chen, Yi Seul Kim, Ni Lili, Phil McConnaughay, Anne-Lise Strahtmann, Tian He and Zhang Xuan for their contributions to this chapter. I thank also Peking University School of Transnational Law and Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School for their support. Any shortcomings in the chapter are my own.

  2. 2.

    https://www.ifoam.bio/en/internal-control-systems-ics-group-certification, and https://www.ifoam.bio/en/organic-guarantee-system-ifoam-organics-international, both accessed 11 May 2019.

Abbreviations

AFN:

Alternative Food Network

AQSIQ:

Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine

CAA:

Certification and Accreditation Administration

CAC:

Codex Alimentarius Commission

CCP:

Chinese Communist Party

CNAB:

China National Accreditation Board for Certifiers

CNAL:

National Accreditation Board for Laboratories

CNCA:

China National Certification Administration

COFCC:

China Organic Food Certification Centre

CSA:

Community Supported Agriculture

GFDC:

Green Food Development Centre

GTZ:

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit

IFOAM:

International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements

INR:

International normative repertoire

ISO:

International Organization for Standardization

MEP:

Ministry for Environmental Protection

MOA:

Ministry of Agriculture

NDRC:

National Development and Reform Commission

NIES:

Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science

OBOR:

One Belt, One Road

OCIA:

Organic Crop Improvement Association

OFDC:

Organic Food Development Centre

RIT:

Regulatory intermediary theory

SEPA:

State Administration for Environmental Protection

SFS:

State Farm System

SRI:

Silk Road Initiative

TNR:

Transnational normative repertoire

WTO:

World Trade Organization

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Peking University School of Transnational Law, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China

    Francis Snyder

  2. College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium

    Francis Snyder

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  1. School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, Faculty of Law, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

    Bee Chen GOH

  2. School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

    Rohan Price

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Snyder, F. (2020). Understanding the Regulation of Ecological Food in China: Regulatory Intermediation, Path Dependence and Legal Pluralism. In: GOH, B., Price, R. (eds) Regulatory Issues in Organic Food Safety in the Asia Pacific. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3580-2_2

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