中国食品安全危机背景下的底层食物自保运动

Bottom-up Food Self-protection Arising from China's Food Safety Crisis

文章主要针对中国社会常见的小农户区别食物生产和消费、部分城市消费者区别购买食物的现象,分析其成因和面临的挑战,以解答这种自下而上的底层食物自保运动能否成为解决中国食品安全危机的途径。研究发现,这种来自底层的食物自保策略的出现主要归因于:现代农业和食物体系从根本上致使食品安全出现危机;商品化的食物脱嵌于原有社会关系而不受社会规则约束;人与人之间信任的缺失加重了食物信任的断链;政府"自上而下"治理和监管的失效。这种社会自保运动最终能否解决问题,关键在于是否能应对五个挑战:一是捍卫来自种源安全的食物主权;二是引导教育人数众多且分散的城市消费者;三是有效应对仍保留本土农业和食物文化知识的小农的代际更替和断层风险;四是扩大并良性运行小农与城市消费者共同构建的替代性食物互信网络;五是代表国家权力的监督管理权威能否给主流市场外的替代食物网络留存空间。

During the past ten years, China＇s food safety has become an issue of public concern. In Chinese so- ciety most small farmers and some urban food consumers have to adopt a self - protection food strategy. Focu- sing on this common phenomenon, this paper is dedicated to analyzing its causes and challenges. It predicts whether this bottom - up food self - protection can solve China＇s food safety crisis. Based on rich field research material, there are some preliminary findings. In terms of its causes, fundamentally, modern food and farming system results in the food safety crisis in China. Moreover, a lack of trust between people aggravates the scis- sion of food trust, in addition to failure of the Chinese government＇s top - down regulation and governance. We propose that small farmers have to strike a balance between food for money and food for life, in alliance with ur- ban consumers concerned with food safety, to join alternative food networks together with some scholars and practitioners. However, whether this self- protection strategy can resolve the crisis depends on its challenges. First is defending food sovereignty, especially crop seeds and baby livestock sovereignty. Second is cultivating numerous diffuse food consumers. Third is how to protect dispersed small farmers who preserve local food and farming traditions and knowledge. Fourth is the sustainability of the mutual trust alternative food network. The final challenge is whether the authorities will allow some space for self - protection.