Reducing food safety risk: Experiences from the adoption of good agricultural practices in China

Foodborne diseases outbreak frequently in recent years in China, which stimulate consumer's increasing concerns toward food quality and safety. In order to ensure food safety and rebuild consumer confidence, the Chinese government has taken a series of remedy measures. As an effective way of reducing food safety risk in the headstream of the food supply chain, Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) is attracting more and more attention and extending rapidly, especially well accepted by those enterprise applicants from the coastal provinces. However, it faces the challenge that how to popularize the certification widely among the small-scale farming households throughout China.