About punitive compensation,the first provision in the protection of consumer rights and interests in our country,the main role is to "anti-fraud",to maintain consumer rights and interests and punishment of illegal businesses,plays a vital role.With the prominent problems in the food field,in view of the good effect of punitive damages in the field of ordinary consumption,section 148,paragraph 2 of the food safety act that,"in the case of producing substandard food or knowingly selling food that does not meet the food safety standards,in addition to demanding compensation for losses,it may also demand compensation of ten times the price paid or three times the loss suffered by the producer or business operator;if the amount of additional compensation is less than 1,000 yuan,it shall be 1,000 yuan." This is the food safety punitive damages clause,this article has been widely used in practice.But with the constant development and change of social conditions,the questions of punitive damages in specific application gradually appear.In this context through analyzing the existing problems in our country’s food safety punitive compensation application and putting forward effective solutions,it is helpful to improve our legal system of food safety,safeguard consumers’ rights and interests,punish illegal businesses and realize the smooth operation of the market economy.In this paper,by summarizing the current situation of judicial application of food safety punitive compensation in courts at all levels in the past two years,through comparative analysis,the main reason for the diferent verdicts in the same case is that different courts have different understandings of the application conditions.The unclear definition of the relationship between "knowing and buying fake products","professional counterfeiters or anticounterfeit organizations" and consumers,different understandings of whether "gross negligence" is the subjective component of operators,the identification scope of "knowing" is too broad,the status of actual damages is disputed and the application of punitive damages is inflexible.In view of the above problems,this paper puts forward the following measures to improve.Firstly,the concept of consumer should be redefined to include the special consumption phenomenon of "knowing fake products and buying fake products".At the same time for "know fake buy fake" reclassification,distinguish the general "know fake buy fake"and "professional fake","fake companies";Secondly,"gross negligence" reflects the operator’s serious disregard for the interests of consumers,which is reprehensible and should be regulated by law.At the same time,the judicial interpretation should be revised,the original provisions as a reference factor of the operator’s subjective mentality,and then combined with the specific circumstances of the case comprehensive analysis is appropriate.Thirdly,it clearly does not take actual damages as the constituent requirement of punitive damages in the field of food safety.Fourthly,the flexible method of calculating punitive damages gives judges the discretion to fully consider the circumstances of individual cases,so as to "punish as the crime"and respond to it in legislation. |