Application of Traceability along the Supply Chain

172 Pages·2015·1.03 MB·English

Scuola Dottorale Tullio Ascarelli
Dottorato di Ricerca in Consumatori e Mercato
Area Scienze Merceologiche e Organizzazioni delle Aziende

CICLO XXVI

Food Safety in China: Application of Traceability
along the Supply Chain

Nome e Cognome del dottorando: Bing Zhao

Docente Guida/Tutor: Prof.ssa Maria Claudia Lucchetti

Coordinatore: Prof.ssa Maddelena Rabitti

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... 4
Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ 5
Abstract ..................................................................................................................... 7
1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 15
2. Food Traceability and Asymmetric Information: A Literature Review ................. 34
2.1. Food Traceability System .............................................................................. 35
2.2. Benefits and Costs of Establishing Food Traceability System ........................ 38
2.3. Types of Food Traceability System ............................................................... 44
2.4. Summary ...................................................................................................... 48
3. Legislations on Food Safety and Traceability in European Union ........................ 49
3.1. The Evolution of European Food Law ........................................................... 51
3.1.1. Stage One: 1957-1985 ............................................................................ 51
3.1.2. Stage Two: 1986-1997 ............................................................................ 52
3.1.3. Stage Three: 1997-2002 .......................................................................... 54
3.2. General Food Law and Regulatory Framework ............................................. 59
3.2.1. Risk Analysis.......................................................................................... 61
3.2.2. Precautionary Principle ........................................................................... 64
3.2.3. European Food Safety Authority and the Rapid Alert System ................. 67
3.3. Regulations of Geographical Indications ....................................................... 69
3.3.1. Why Protecting GIs?............................................................................... 72
3.3.2. International Debate and the New Council Regulation ............................ 74
3.4. Regulations of Traceability in the Supply Chain ............................................ 79
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3.4.1. Traceability System of the Beef Industry ................................................ 82
3.4.2. Traceability System of the Fishery and Aquaculture Products ................. 84
3.4.3. Traceability System of the Genetically Modified Food and Feed............. 86
3.4.4. Summary ................................................................................................ 88
4. Food Safety Law and the New Food Safety Assurance System in China .............. 89
4.1. The Inefficient Food Safety Regulation prior to the Food Safety Law............ 91
4.1.1. Food Hygiene Law ................................................................................. 91
4.1.2. Complementary Legislations and Regulatory Agencies ........................... 93
4.2. Food Safety Law and Regulatory Changes .................................................... 97
4.2.1. Regulatory Innovations of FSL ............................................................... 97
4.2.2. Unsolved Inefficiencies of FSL ..............................................................100
4.3. Regulatory Instrument Risk Analysis ...........................................................102
4.3.1. Risk Assessment ....................................................................................103
4.3.2. Risk Communication .............................................................................105
4.3.3. Risk Management ..................................................................................106
4.4. The National Food Safety Standards ............................................................107
4.4.1. MOH and New Standard System ...........................................................107
4.4.2. Product-oriented Standard......................................................................110
4.4.3. Process-oriented Standard ......................................................................112
4.5. Summary .....................................................................................................113
5. The Traceability System in China .......................................................................115
5.1. Legislations on Food Traceability System ....................................................117
5.1.1. Food Safety Law and Traceability System .............................................117
5.1.2. National and Provincial Policies Supporting the Traceability System .....118
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5.1.3. Specific Regulations on the Traceability System ....................................122
5.2. The Application of the Traceability System in China ....................................125
5.2.1. The Public Sector ..................................................................................125
5.2.2. The Enterprises ......................................................................................126
5.2.3. The Consumers ......................................................................................128
5.2.4. Potential Improvements .........................................................................129
5.3. Regulations of Geographical Indicators ........................................................131
5.3.1. Public Approach: Sui Generis Protection ...............................................133
5.3.2. Private Approach: Certification and Collective Marks ...........................135
5.3.3. Conflicts and Inefficiencies of the Dual Protection System ....................137
5.4. Case Study: Longjing Tea ............................................................................138
5.4.1. The sui generis protection of Longjing Tea ............................................139
5.4.2. The Certification Mark Protection of Longjing Tea ................................141
5.4.3. The Traceability System of the Origin of Longjing Tea .........................142
5.5. Summary .....................................................................................................143
6. Conclusion .........................................................................................................146
References ..............................................................................................................152

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Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Giulia, my beloved wife, for her support and encouragement
throughout the years during which I was pursuing my higher learning, particularly this
doctorate study.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my tutor, Prof. Maria Claudia
Lucchetti, for all her guidance, teaching, motivation and patience, which have been
indispensable and instrumental for my accomplishing the doctorate research.

I also wish to thank Prof. Liliana Rossi Carleo and Prof. Maddelena Rabitti for their
kind coordination and mentoring.

My sincere thanks go to Mr. Michele Preziosi, my fellow doctorate candidate, for his
generous support in sharing research resources and contributing valuable thoughts and
comments, especially over the period when this dissertation was conceived.

I thank my colleagues and friends from relevant Chinese ministries and institutions,
particularly the Ministry of Agriculture and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, for their cooperation and assistance.

I would also like to thank the colleagues of the Segretario per la Ricerca,
Dipartimento di Studi Aziendali, for their administrative and scholastic support. I feel
equally indebted to all other teachers and colleagues who have provided me with
important guidance, resources and support during my doctorate study.

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Abbreviations
TRIPS Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

BSE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

EFSA European Food Safety Authority

E.U. European Union

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

FVO Food and Veterinary Office

FHL Food Hygiene Law

FSL Food Safety Law

GFL General Food Law

GM Genetically Modified

GIs Geographical Indications

GDP Gross Domestic Product

HACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point

HPLC High-performance liquid chromatography

IUU Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated

ISO International Organization for Standardization

ACF Member States and the Advisory Committee on Foodstuffs

MOA Ministry of Agriculture

MOC Ministry of Commerce

MOF Ministry of Finance

MOH Ministry of Health

RFID Radio-Frequency Identification

RIA Regulatory Impact Assessment
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StCF Standing Committee on Foodstuffs

SAIC State Administration for Industry and Commerce

SFDA State Food and Drug Administration

AQSIQ State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine

SOEs State-owned Enterprises

P.R.C. People’s Republic of China

U.S. United States

WHO World Health Organization

WTO World Trade Organization

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Abstract
This dissertation is devoted to the discussion of the role of traceability system in
improving food safety and compares the legislations and regulatory practices between
EU and China. Europe has a renowned reputation for safe and high quality food,
which is a good reference for China. It also adopts a law and economics perspective,
which contributes to our understanding of the reasons why traceability functions and
how the laws should be drafted to facilitate such functions. The dissertation consists
of six chapters and is arranged as follows.

Chapter 1 is the introduction. The food safety problem has its unique features in
China: the problem of feeding its people has already been solved, but the incidents
related to microorganisms, toxic plants and animals, and chemical contamination,
illegal food additives and contamination with environmental hazards repeatedly
happen, which differs from that in Europe. In addition, the industry organization of
the food sector in China is characterized by an overwhelming quantity of extremely
small businesses using a highly decentralized way of production and processing, and
usually distributing their product in the traditional wet markets with weak regulations,
and differs from the pattern of massive production in Western countries. Finally,
although the government is highly involved in the food production industry, the
governmental intervention lacks a precautionary system in preventing the spread of
unsafe foodstuffs, but highly relies on ex post penalties.

Now China is turning its attention to ex ante regulation, which depends to a greater
extent on the traceability system. On February 1st, 2015, the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly released the first policy
document, The Notice on Strengthening the Reform and Speeding up the
Modernization of the Agricultural Industry, which places the traceability system and
the national information platform for food safety and agricultural products as the key
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to improving food safety. It is regarded as an important instrument to combat unsafe
food and supply regulators, business operators and consumers with precious
information.

Chapter 2 reviews the literature on the traceability system focusing on its relationship
with the food safety. Section 2.1. discusses the various concepts of traceability system
and its role in tracing and tracking the information along supply chain. Section 2.2.
discusses the benefits and costs of traceability system. It is widely recognized that the
problem of asymmetric information makes it impossible for the market to supply safe
food. The traceability system standardizes the information supplied and gathers
information about product attributes, which increase the availability of the decisional
information. It also facilitates the court system to solve the tort disputes by assigning
liabilities to the responsible parties. Finally, with the traceability system, reputation
could function to distinguish the different operators, which would otherwise seem to
be homogenous without sufficient information. However, the traceability system may
impose significant installment and maintenance costs that prevent small and medium
enterprises from using such system. Section 2.3. discusses various generations of the
traceability system and their advantages and disadvantages, particularly the latest
radio-frequency identification system.

Chapter 3 focuses on the legislations and regulations on food safety and traceability in
E.U. Section 3.1. reviews the evolution of European food law. The history of
European food law can be framed into three main phases prior to the promulgation of
the General Food Law (GFL). The first one is characterized by the promotion of the
Internal Market and the free movement of goods within the Community. The second
turned to a new approach based on the principle of mutual recognition of laws
between Member States. The third one established the basis for a radical reform of
food safety regulatory framework, stressing that the E.U. food policy must be built on
high food safety standards, with the aim to protect and promote consumer health.

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