China's Food Standardization System, Its Reform and Remaining Challenges

The article examines China's food standardization system, its reform and remaining challenges. Upon examining China's general standardization system, the article argues that the food standardizationi nstitutionalf ramework has originatedf rom the general standardization, which has developed a four-level hierarchy mechanism. It further examines the most salient features of China's food standardization system, namely, top-down hierarchy and intensive government involvement, and suggests that these features caused a regulatory failure. Although China recently reformed this field, and the food safety standard hierarchy has been streamlined, challenges remain. The article reviews China's current reform in the food standardization system by providing a description, analysis and comparison of approaches from Europe and China.