A Study On Social Enterprises Participating In Food Safety Governance

The frequent occurrence of food safety problems has aroused widespread concern and exploration for solutions among government,enterprises,consumers and academia.Social enterprise,defined as a social organization between traditional enterprise and non-profit organization,has an inherent social mission and responsibility,and can use creative business methods and profitability to compensate for market malfunctions and government malfunctions and solve some of the chronic problems of food safety governance.In this context of frequent food safety problems,the practice of social enterprises,as new organizations in the field of food safety governance,reflects the theoretical guidance of polycentric governance and provides a new approach to food safety governance,as well as a reference perspective for social enterprise research.This thesis presents a case study of a social enterprise,Community Supported Agriculture(CSA),from the perspective of polycentric governance theory,and analyze its practical experience and shortcomings in food safety governance.Polycentric governance theory opposes the monopoly and expansion of government power in governance and believes that social problems can be solved by autonomous governance of stakeholders.The prerequisites for effective governance need to address the issues of institutional provision,trustworthy commitment and mutual monitoring.This paper therefore analyzes the experiences and shortcomings of social enterprise governance in three main areas: institutions,trust and monitoring,and concludes with suggested strategies related to food security governance.First,the government needs to provide better and more liberal institutions and policies for social enterprises or other organizations to participate flexibly in food safety governance.Second,professional and technical food safety policy tools should be strictly applied to food businesses in order to better monitor food safety.Third,a food safety certification system that is easily recognizable to consumers should be established and vigorously promoted in order to win consumers’ trust in food safety and eliminate the barriers of information asymmetry.