Abstract
As a result of numerous food safety accidents in China over the past 20 years, the trust in food is low. Both a threat to people’s health and the regime’s legitimacy, it is in the government’s interest to resolve food safety issues. However, despite the many efforts, new food safety scares appear frequently. These issues have pushed the consumers toward alternative food provisioning schemes, such as organic products. As one of the biggest emerging organic food markets, China has the potential to increase trust in food by further developing the market. However, studies have found that also organic products receive low degrees of trust. Through a case study on Chongming Island outside of Shanghai, this master’s thesis aims to see how the government promotes organic food to increase trust in food. This is done by analyzing the government documents, laws and regulations, newspaper articles, and advertisements for organic food to provide an overview of the efforts. These efforts are examined in the light of trust theory and political ecology. The results indicate a significant focus on the development of eco-foods. However, there is less focus on organic products alone. Additionally, despite the minor focus on trust directly, it is communicated in the government plans through safety, openness, and information sharing. The findings of the analysis of trust-enhancing efforts showed mixed results. On one side, the analysis showed that mechanisms such as traceability systems to increase transparency could help enhance trust. On the other side, most efforts to increase trust in food proved insufficient and only served as temporary safety. Therefore, more research is needed on the trust-building mechanisms on Chongming Island.