The Effectiveness of Government Regulation and Demand for Food Safety Degree——Evidence from China

The Effectiveness of Government Regulation and Demand for Food Safety Degree——Evidence from China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The Effectiveness of Government Regulation and Demand for Food Safety Degree——Evidence from China Shuai Zhang, Shaoan Huang, Yemei Li, Ya Zhao This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6246094/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract It is unreasonable to attribute the food safety problem solely to ineffective government regulation or to expect that strengthening regulation on the supply side will resolve the issue. This paper introduces the concept of “effective demand for food safety degree” from the perspective of consumer demand for safe food. It acknowledges a significant segment of consumers, many of whom are low-income, and highlights the hierarchical differences in the demand for food safety degree across various consumer groups. Consequently, the paper constructs a model of enterprise competition that takes into account differences in consumer income. This model illustrates an equilibrium where both low-quality and high-quality food coexist in the market. Furthermore, it analyzes the impacts of government regulation, consumer income levels, and income disparity on the overall degree of food safety in the market. Based on this model, the paper conducts empirical analyses using data from food safety incidents. The findings suggest that one major reason for the food safety problems in China at present is that a relatively large number of low-income consumers exhibit low effective demand for food safety degree. This situation creates a persistent demand or market for low-quality or substandard food, resulting in inefficiencies and malfunctions within government regulation. Enhanced government regulation can only have a more positive impact when the general income level of the population rises. Food safety degree Effective demand Government regulatory effectiveness Consumer income level Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6246094","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":445428378,"identity":"6a75ccdb-ecd2-416b-9453-e2ac45932f4b","order_by":0,"name":"Shuai Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Weifang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shuai","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":445428382,"identity":"e1bcce3c-2813-45b4-b39e-4ad300fd8b6a","order_by":1,"name":"Shaoan Huang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shandong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shaoan","middleName":"","lastName":"Huang","suffix":""},{"id":445428385,"identity":"a7d3bb57-9ae4-4aa8-95e2-db17d673a8b5","order_by":2,"name":"Yemei Li","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLCChAo2OX72xsYHH4jXcobPWLLncLPhDKK1MLbJJW6Ykd4mzUGMaoPj3YkPHraZJW6QfNggzcBgJ6fbQEjLmbObDRLOpRlvl05sMC5gSDY2O0BIy43cbRIJZcdkd85ObEiewXAgcRtBLfffbv+RwPafccPNgw2HeYjScoN3G0NCG5vihhuMjc1EaZE8k7tZIuEMGzCQE5sZZxgQ4Re+42c3fvwBjsrjz398qLCTI6hFAVWBAQHlICDfQISiUTAKRsEoGOEAALjsTDGpJTL6AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Zhongnan University of Economics and Law","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yemei","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":445428388,"identity":"ecbd78ec-f7ab-4818-b3e8-fe9acbe60e50","order_by":3,"name":"Ya Zhao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shandong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ya","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhao","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-03-17 15:38:32","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6246094/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6246094/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":84394990,"identity":"4818636a-90a4-4263-af0e-243dc3505897","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-11 12:23:23","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":542267,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscrip.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6246094/v1_covered_f386a40c-1a30-4044-9dc6-fe0e3e9a410c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"The Effectiveness of Government Regulation and Demand for Food Safety Degree——Evidence from China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Food safety degree, Effective demand, Government regulatory effectiveness, Consumer income level","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6246094/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6246094/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIt is unreasonable to attribute the food safety problem solely to ineffective government regulation or to expect that strengthening regulation on the supply side will resolve the issue. This paper introduces the concept of \u0026ldquo;effective demand for food safety degree\u0026rdquo; from the perspective of consumer demand for safe food. It acknowledges a significant segment of consumers, many of whom are low-income, and highlights the hierarchical differences in the demand for food safety degree across various consumer groups. Consequently, the paper constructs a model of enterprise competition that takes into account differences in consumer income. This model illustrates an equilibrium where both low-quality and high-quality food coexist in the market. Furthermore, it analyzes the impacts of government regulation, consumer income levels, and income disparity on the overall degree of food safety in the market. Based on this model, the paper conducts empirical analyses using data from food safety incidents. 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