Agricultural marketing and food safety in China: a utility perspective

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese food safety issues by analysing select incidents within he Chinese agricultural marketing system.Design/methodology/approach - A marketing utility framework is utilized to discuss some of the major food safety incidents in China and potential solutions are explored.Findings - The paper finds that food safety issues arise from problems of asymmetric information which leads to the profit seeking behaviour of agents distorting rather than enhancing the creation of one of the four types or marketing utility (time, form, place and possession). Additionally, structural causes found within the Chinese food marketing system have contributed to the food safety problems.Research limitations/implications - This is not an empirical research with numerical data.Originality/value - This study is one of the first to address Chinese food safety problems from an agricultural marketing utility perspective. Key anecdotes are used to support the claims made in this study