Food Safety in the European Union and People’s Republic of China: Apulian medium-sized enterprises and extra virgin olive oil export.

Abstract

This work, moving from an introduction regarding the food safety’s concept in both the European Union and China, has the aim of explaining what are the main regulations governing the food import and export between these two different economic partners; leading the reader into a final section dedicated to the export of Italian extra virgin olive oil in China. In order to clearly guide the reader towards the last part, the work is divided into two chapters respectively having the first its focus on the authorities and regulations governing the food safety in the European Union and the second on the same subject related to People’s Republic of China. After providing a detailed description of the improvements made with the amendment of the China’s Food Safety Law in 2015 and its enforcements on the import and export of food, I’ve chosen to channel the focus of the work on the actual olive oil market situation in China. Following this general part, the reader will find a description of what are the specific laws regarding the export of the Italian extra virgin olive oil in China and a overview of the strategies adopted by some Apulian medium-sized exporters of extra virgin olive oil to enter the Chinese market.