Evolution of policy instruments for food safety risk management: Comparing China and Western countries

Using text mining and instrument qualification techniques based on 605 policy instrument texts issued by the China government from 1985 to 2019, this study quantitatively analyzes the total number, type structure, specific composition, and evolution of policy instruments for food safety risks governance. Overall, 1,193, 459, and 95 of these instruments were compulsory, mixed, and voluntary, respectively. The results found that the evolution of these instruments in China exhibits a strong similarity to those in Western countries. They both started with compulsory instruments alone, then turned to a combination of compulsory and mixed instruments, and eventually progressed to a mixture of compulsory, mixed, and voluntary instruments. The internal logic of this evolution is that the instrument type structure changes continuously in response to the changes in the stakeholder relationships among government, market, and society. However, unlike Western countries, China still relies heavily on the role of government, which results in the dominance of compulsory instruments and insufficiency of mixed and voluntary instruments, reflecting high path dependence. Implications are discussed.