Perceptions of Food Safety by Urban Consumers in Nanjing, China

Abstract

The past decade has seen what could reasonably be called an explosion in the number of food-related crises in China. Food safety issues represent a national crisis threatening the physical and psychological health of Chinese citizens, despite the repeated adoption of stringent food safety laws and regulations. This project, based on a stratified random sample of 337 households in Nanjing, assesses perceptions related to different food safety concerns and issues among urban residents and explores differences in perceptions across social strata as defined by socioeconomic and demographic variables using principal component analysis and standard statistical tests.

中国于过去十年，见证了足以被称为与粮食有关的危机数量的爆炸性发展。儘管不断採用严格的粮食安全法律及规范，粮食安全议题，仍然代表了危害中国公民身体与心理健康的国家危机。本研究计画根据在南京的三百三十七户分层随机抽样，评估城市居民对于不同的粮食安全考量及议题的理解，并探讨各社会阶层的不同观念，社会阶层则运用主成分分析和标准统计检验，由社会经济与人口变项定义之。

En la década pasada se pudo detectar en China lo que razonablemente podría llamarse una explosión del número de crisis relacionadas con comida. Los temas de seguridad alimentaria representan una crisis nacional que amenaza la salud física y psicológica de los ciudadanos chinos, a pesar de la repetida adopción de leyes y regulaciones estrictas sobre seguridad alimentaria. Este proyecto, basado en una muestra aleatoria estratificada de 337 hogares de Nanjing, evalúa las percepciones de residentes urbanos relacionadas con diferentes preocupaciones y temas de seguridad alimentaria, y explora las diferencias en percepciones a través de estratos sociales definidos por variables socioeconómicas y demográficas, usando análisis de componentes principales y pruebas estadísticas estándar.

Key Words:

• China
• food safety perceptions
• food security
• Nanjing
• risk society theory

关键词:

• 中国
• ，粮食安全观
• 念，粮食
• 安全
• ，南京，风险社会理论。

Palabras clave:

• China
• percepciones de seguridad alimentaria
• Nanjing
• teoría de la sociedad en riesgo

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Don Sanetra of Gamut Graphics for the maps and Xi Meng for significant help with survey design, development, and distribution. Reviews by three anonymous reviewers significantly improved the article, and we thank them sincerely for their time and effort.

Funding

This work was supported by the Lucia Harrison Endowment and the Milton E. and Ruth M. Scherer Fund of the Department of Geography, Western Michigan University (WMU), the Haworth College of Business Dean's Summer Faculty Research Fellowship, WMU and the Timothy Light Center for Chinese Studies Fellowship, WMU. The third author also wishes to thank the China National Natural Science Foundation for funding for his project titled “A Study of Employment Relationship Approaches and Human Resource Management Innovation in Chinese Enterprises”(No. 71332002). We are very grateful for this financial support of our work.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gregory Veeck

GREGORY VEECK is a Professor of Geography at Western Michigan University, Department of Geography, Kalamazoo, MI 49001. E-mail: [email protected]. His research focuses on food systems, agriculture, and rural development in China, the United States, and East Asia.

Ann Veeck

ANN VEECK is a Professor of marketing at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49001. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include family consumption patterns and food marketing systems in China and the United States.

Shuming Zhao

SHUMING ZHAO is Chaired Professor and Honorary Dean at the School of Business, Nanjing University, Nanjing 211100, China. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include human resource management, employment relations, and multinational business management.