Rebuilding milk safety trust in China: what do we learn and the way forward

Abstract The melamine scandal of 2008 has caused significant consumer distrust on milk safety in China. Thus, the rebuilding of consumers’ trust towards Chinese milk safety has emerged as a key issue for governance in the dairy industry. Based on the trustee- and trustor-centric perspectives, it shows that existing studies ignore that trustees and trustors are interdependent in the dairy system. The examination of milk safety issues in isolation hinders effective rebuilding of trust and milk safety governance in China. In this review, we investigate both the current government and corporate actions (trustees) to assure milk safety and multiple factors that influence consumers’ trust (trustors) on milk safety in China. Our analysis revealed that the Chinese government and dairy corporates have adopted various measures to improve milk safety, and gradually introduced broader interventions to recover consumers’ trust in Chinese milk. However, to fully recover consumers’ trust and meet their expectations, consumers need to be engaged in the processes of milk safety governance.