转型中的中国食品安全问题研究

中国食品安全问题不仅与产品,更与消费者和政府有关。首先因为食品传输网络复杂性的增加,食品来源的可追溯性就降低了,消费者和生产者之间就产生了不对称信息。其次,食品工业发展不完善且严重依赖于高度不集中的传统小农生产。第三,因为食品生产的信息不对称,消费者普遍对生产工艺存在认知差距,因此消费者,特别是城市居民,一般不懂如何选择可靠安全的食品。在食品之间没有显著质量差别的情况下,他们往往倾向于选择更低价的食品。在这种体系下,三个要素显著影响食品质量:食品工业的分散性本质降低食品的可追溯性;政府执行的不成熟不完善的条例没能充分阻止不合格的产品进入市场;消费者对食品加工过程的无意识也使得他们依据食品的价格标签而做出错误的选择。食品问题的解决办法不能只靠政府或者有良知的企业,而是三种因素都应得到改善。

Research on food safety in China during the transition

The food problems in china may be contributed by not only producers, but also consumers and government. Firstly, because of the rapid growth of complexity of food transportation network, the traceability of food decreases, and therefore the asymmetric information exists between customers and producers. Secondly, because the food industry is still immature and highly reliant on traditional small- scale back- yard farming, the food industry is highly fragmented. Thirdly, because of the asymmetric informationabout food production, epistemic distance from the production process exists widely among consumers.As a result, consumers, especially urban residents, generally do not know how to choose trustworthy safe food. Without significant difference in food’s apparent quality, they tend to choose the cheaper food. In this system, there are three factors that affect food quality negatively:the decentralized nature of food industry which reduces the traceability of food, the immature and limited regulations enforced by government which do not sufficiently prevent unqualified food from enter ing the market, and the unawareness of food production process among consumers which lead them to make wrong decisions based on the labels and price of food. The solution of the food problem should not be only counted on government or ethical business;instead, all three factors should be improved.