Food safety is a major public health issue worldwide, especially in heavily populated countries such as China. As in other countries, the predominant food safety issues in China are foodborne diseases caused by microbial pathogens. Hence, this review provides a systematic overview on microbial food safety in the past, present, and future in China. Management of microbial food safety in China is generally divided into three stages: Stage I before 2000, Stage II from 2000 to 2009, and Stage III from 2010 to present. At Stage I, China's main food concern gradually shifted from food security to food safety. At Stage II, foodborne pathogen surveillance was initiated and gradually became a focus of microbial food safety marked by the establishment of national food contamination monitoring system in 2000 and the promulgation of China Food Safety Law in 2009, although chemical food safety was considered a priority issue during this stage. At Stage III, microbial food safety was recognized as a high priority supported by many national food safety policies such as the launch of a national foodborne disease molecular tracing network in 2013 and the revision of China Food Safety Law in 2015. Advancement in food safety education and research support by central and local governments has also made significant contributions to tackling and solving microbial food safety problems. Management in the future should be focused on active involvement of food industries in mitigating microbial risks by introducing ISO 22000, regulatory enforcement to oversee compliances to standards and rules, and application of molecular tools for fast detection and source tracking to support decision-making. Future research efforts may include, but are not limited to, exploitation of interaction mechanisms among pathogenic bacteria, food and gut microbiota, smart traceability of microbial hazards, and development of novel antimicrobial strategies.
Keywords: China; food safety; foodborne pathogen; microbial hazard; surveillance network.