Quantitative Analysis of Food Safety Policy-Based on Text Mining Methods

Area of Science:

• Food safety policy analysis
• Public health policy
• Quantitative policy analysis

Background:

• Food safety and epidemics are increasingly linked, prompting government action.
• China has prioritized food safety, issuing numerous policies.
• Limited quantitative analysis exists for long-term food safety policy trends.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively analyze China's food safety policies from 2007-2022.
• To compare central and local policy content and trends.
• To identify key characteristics and hot topics in food safety regulation.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of national and local food safety policies (2007-2022).
• Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling for content analysis.
• K-Means clustering to identify policy themes.
• Quantitative assessment of policy release, distribution, scope, and institutions.

Main Results:

• Policy surges observed in 2007, 2011, and 2017.
• Local policies largely mirror central content and publication trends.
• Regional policy innovation shows distinct characteristics.
• Compulsory and capacity-building policies dominate.

Conclusions:

• This study provides a quantitative overview of China's evolving food safety policy landscape.
• Findings highlight the alignment between central and local efforts and regional policy nuances.
• The dominance of compulsory and capacity-building policies indicates a focus on enforcement and infrastructure.