Designing Independent Regulatory System of Food Safety in China

Food is closely related to the life and health of people. The establishment of an independent administrative agency for food safety is a bone of contention. The independent administrative agencies are independent from other branches or arms of the government with regard to their basis of legitimacy. Based on the theory of public administration and the economics of regulation, the paper intends to prove that industrial and political pressures on the independent administrative agency are relatively low, making policymakers more accountable to the public. Having analyzed the current food regulatory system in China, the paper points out that it does not actually support the overall goal of the food safety. The purpose of the paper is to bring together the basic principles underlying the successful regulatory system of food safety. In the end the paper makes some suggestions on how to establish the independent regulatory system of food safety in China.