Legislation Study Of Edible Agricultural Product Safety Traceability In China

The safety problems of edible agricultural products are highly concerned by both the State and the consumers.Edible agricultural product safety traceability system will be one of the most effective measures to solve the safety problems but its current development faces challenges under the imperfect adaptable laws.The earliest traceability laws came into effect in 2001 when Shanghai and Beijing municipal governments implemented traceability measures.More and more regulations and measures came into effect then in accordance with the traceability work requirement.The current legislation system of edible agricultural product safety traceability has three levels with "Food Safety Laws" at the first level,regulations at the second level and measures at the third level.However,because the current laws are too principled and lack details for guidance,the traceability system is ineffective and incoherent in practice.During the legislation process,the low organization of the edible agricultural product industry and lack of supply chain are the main difficulties for traceability.Considering the traceability work may cause more cost which will bring up the price and multi administrative structure,the legislators had to add some compromise into clauses.In contrast,laws and legislation structure in European Union,the USA and Japan are clear.We could study and learn from them.Proposes will include to develop a multi-level legislation system for edible agricultural product safety traceability,make new regulations,revise the clauses,establish the national supervision coordination office,and develop farmer cooperatives,wholesale markets and industrial organizations etc.