Neoliberalizing Food Safety Control

• Published in: Modern China
• Main Author: Huang, Yu
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2016
• Subjects: Avian flu
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0097700415605322; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0097700415605322; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0097700415605322

China is the world’s largest aquaculture producer, accounting for 63% of global output by volume. However, since the 2000s, the reputation of China’s seafood has been tainted by a series of drug residue incidents. The need to ensure food safety, combined with the state’s determination to fulfill its responsibility for animal epidemic control in the aftermath of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and avian flu, forced the government to launch a veterinary system reform. This reform sought to transform quasi-public rural vets into market-sensitive and technology-savvy licensed professionals who can discipline unruly fish farmers. However, the vets encountered many dilemmas in balancing food safety versus drug profits, animal health versus human health, and regulatory imperatives versus the practical exigencies of farmers themselves. The article demonstrates how the neoliberal program of cultivating rational and responsible veterinarians redistributes rather than minimizes the risks that result from market-oriented aquaculture production.