scholarly journals International Food Safety Standards: Catalysts for Increased Chinese Food Quality?

2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Søren Kjeldsen-Kragh ◽  
Lu Wencong

During the last 10-15 years the question about food safety has increasingly been a topic of great concern nationally and internationally. Traditionally there has been a conflict of interest between the developed countries with higher food safety standards and the developing countries with lower food safety rules. As long as adequate international rules persist the view of standards as barriers should be replaced by the view of standards as catalysts for increased food quality. This article looks at the food safety issue in China, the largest developing country. The Chinese exports of food products have been confronted with trade restrictions because the products did not comply with the high food standards in the USA, the EU and Japan. These difficulties have contributed to a greater concern in China about the quality of the food products. In the last ten years a series of changes in the rules and in the administration have taken place. It is a complicated task because it touches the whole food chain. The article tries to cast light on these important questions. What have been the consequences of inadequate food safety regulations in China? What have been done until now to improve the food quality standards in China? What further initiatives should be taken to improve the situation in the future?

2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khushdeep Dharni ◽  
Sonika Sharma

With incidence of food-borne diseases, consumers have become more conscious of food safety. Share of high value food items in the export bounty from developing countries like India is on the rise. These high value food items such as fresh & processed fruits and vegetables, marine products, meat and its preparations are highly income elastic as well as sensitive from the viewpoint of food safety. Article 20 of GATT allows governments to act on trade in order to protect human, animal or plant life or health, provided they do not discriminate or use this as disguised protectionism. SPS Agreement sets out the basic rules concerning food safety and animal & plant health standards. It allows countries to set their own standards but also says that regulations must be based on science. With increased retail concentration ratio, large retailers in the developed countries are enforcing their own food safety standards and these standards are stringent as compared to standards of standard setting bodies of WTO. At times these standards are used for discrimination in international trade and are telling upon the exports from developing countries in terms of additional costs of compliance and lack of “harmonization” and difficulties in establishing “equivalence”. For the benefit of exporters from the developing countries and consumers of the developed countries, efforts must be made for encouraging harmonization in these private standards and reducing the resulting discrimination.


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Dragan Žikić ◽  
Slobodan Stojanović ◽  
Gordana Ušćebrka

The food production in the past period was mainly quantity-oriented. Nowadays the food production is transformed into an international System of Quality, implying production of food that has preserved its identity. This change has been caused by often incidents (Salmonella, BSE, E. coli O157:H7, dioxin), and these incidents were caused by interruption of food-safety chain. International organizations (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations - FAO, World Health Organization - WHO, Office International des Epizooties - OIE, Codex Alimentarius Commission - CAC, International Organization for Standardization – ISO), on the basis of latest science acknowledgements, submitted new recommendations and standards of food-safety, with emphasis on integrated approach in development and applying of standards of food-safety as opportunity to access to global world market. By the other hand, high requests from developed countries could result in perplexity ‘standards as barriers’ and ‘standards as catalysts’ in the context of food safety standards in international trade in agricultural and food products. This paper explores the food safety concept through international regulation and food safety standards.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dingqiang Sun ◽  
Jikun Huang ◽  
Jun Yang

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine how China's food safety standards affect agricultural trade in the case of dairy products. Design/methodology/approach – A gravity model is applied to quantitatively address the impacts of changing food safety standards in China in the case of its dairy imports. The paper considers the trade impacts of not only a specific hazard substance but also overall strictness of safety standards. Findings – The paper shows that changes in food safety standards of dairy products have no effect on China's dairy imports. The finding is not particularly surprising considering special characteristics of China's food safety standards. Given the fact that China's safety standards are relatively lower than that in its major exporters, the trade-impeding effect may not be substantial. Research limitations/implications – First, this study is unable to estimate the trade-enhancing and trade-impending effects separately. Second, the study does not account for a potential endogeneity issue associated with food safety standards. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the debate on how food safety standards affect trade by demonstrating that safety standards in developing countries like China can affect international trade differently from that in developed countries. Although results are specific to China's dairy imports, the explanations are applicable to food safety standards in other developing countries.


2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1472-1477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Maina Gitonga ◽  
Adenirin Chabi-Olaye ◽  
Dagmar Mithöfer ◽  
Julius Juma Okello ◽  
Cecilia Nyawira Ritho

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 573-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Clifford ◽  
Henry Olszowy ◽  
Megan Young ◽  
John Hegarty ◽  
Matthew Cross

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1507-1525
Author(s):  
E.A. Aleshina ◽  
◽  
A.A. Leksina ◽  
Zh. S. Dossumova ◽  
◽  
...  

Organic agriculture, based on natural production technologies, obtains a great potential for reversing humanity to a healthy diet and living in harmony with nature by improving the state of the ecosystem. The share of organic food products in the market of the developed countries is already quite high; and various institutional systems of the industry have been introduced and are being improved in the leading countries of the world. Domestic agribusiness is currently lagging behind in these matters, but the situation should be significantly changed by the adopted law and state standard regulating the requirements for the organic sector. In this regard, an objective need arose to substantiate the capabilities and the resource potential of the Saratov region in this sphere. Within the framework of the presented research, an interdisciplinary fundamental platform to develop the theory of the organic food products market was formed. As a result, the elements of the scientific methodology (theories, principles, factors, methods) of its functioning were identified, which made it possible to substantiate the potential capacity of the regional consumer market for organic food. The calculation was made taking into account the rational norms of food consumption that meet modern requirements for a healthy diet, the heterogeneity of consumer preferences, the price gap for the main conventional and organic products in retail and the dispersion of prices for the latter, the implementation of state policy to protect and improve the health of certain population groups. This study is intended for the state management bodies of the agro-industrial sector, the leadership of agricultural, processing and marketing enterprises, the structures of wholesale and retail food products trade and branch research institutions.


The article examines the features of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system as a factor in food safety. The principles of HACCP, formulated in the ISO 22000: 2005 standard, in the Alimentations Commission Codex are compared, as well as in accordance with the Ukrainian regulatory document "Requirements for the development of food safety standards", approved by the Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on October 1, 2012 No. 590. The comparison is carried out in order to establish the compliance of the Ukrainian HACCP system with the international rules, in particular the ISO 22000: 2005 standard. Shown, that the principles of the Ukrainian HACCP system generally comply with international standards, in particular ISO 22000: 2005. This means that the legislation of Ukraine guarantees that, in compliance with it, food products originating from Ukraine comply with international requirements for the control of its manufacture. The guarantee of this is the system of control measures that are provided for by the laws of Ukraine regarding compliance with the requirements of the HACCP system.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document