China's Food Safety Standard System: Problems and Solutions

Food safety standards are of important significance for protecting consumer health and safety and enhancing the government's capabilities in food safety oversight as well as in standardization and guiding of the behaviors of food producers and operators. In this paper, we describe the current status of China's food safety standards from both longitudinal and horizontal perspectives. We point out the current problems existing in China's food safety standard system with respect to the legal status of food safety standards,legislative subjects and the current situation of food safety supervision. China is attempting to establish a more perfect food safety standard system by improving the content of the food safety standards, defi ning legislative subjects and introducing enterprise standards.