This project studies how regulation can play a role in ensuring that food in China is safely produced. It focuses at the most local level of food production, studying food produced directly by farmers. The study looks generally at how Chinese farmers respond to food safety regulation. It looks in particular at how changes in the new food safety law have affected the way they produce food. To do so, it studies farmer awareness of the prior and new food safety regulation laws. Moreover, it analyses how farmers perceive and respond to regulatory, social and market pressures when deciding about food production, which affects their compliance with the new rules.

This is a PhD research project conducted by Ms. Yan Huiqi through intensive fieldwork involving interviews with farmers, as well as with relevant regulators in selected localities in South-Central China.

This project is funded by the China Scholar Scholarship Council and falls under NCLC Lines of Research no. 3, 4, 5 and 6.