Dan ZHAO，Yan WANG，Yongzhi ZHANG ，Yehan CUI，Pengcheng LIU，Yun long ZHOU，Yueru LI*

1.Quality Supervision and Testing Center of the Ministry of Agriculture for Ginseng and Antler Products，Jilin Agricultural University，Changchun 130118，China；2.Technology Development Center of the Ministry of Agriculture，Beijing100122，China；3.Quality and Safety Supervision and Testing Center of the Ministry of Agriculture for Agricultural Products and GMO Products，Hangzhou 310021，China

1 Introduction

The quality and safety of agricultural products are related to people's health and life safety，and in recent years，issues concerning the quality and safety of agricultural products have caused great concern among themajority of consumers and production industries.Both government institutions and individualsare trying to explore solutions to thismajor livelihood problem.Based on the demands of production safety，food safety and protection of consumers'rights，there is an increasingly strong demand for testing the quality and safety of agricultural products，and more and more consumers send the product to testing departments for identification.However，there are reports in recent years on personal submission of samples for inspection being rejected by quality inspection institution，and consumers find noway to submit samples for inspection，causing a tremendous negative impact in the society.Based on the survey of demand for personal submission of agricultural product samples for inspection，this paper makes a preliminary analysis of difficulties in personal submission of samples for inspection and puts forth the specific recommendations.

2 Survey of current personal subm ission of agricultural product samples for inspection

In July 2013，Technology Development Center of the Ministry of Agriculture conducted a survey of 50 agricultural quality inspection institutions，and called back 30 valid questionnaires.The inspection of the quality inspection institutions surveyed covers food，agricultural products，and agricultural inputs.The survey focus is the personal submission of samples for inspection，share in all entrusted task，reception situation，cause analysis，and purpose of submitting samples for inspection.

2.1 The practical needs of personal subm ission of samp les for inspectionAccording to survey results，70.4%of30 quality inspection institutions have accepted personal submission of samples for testing（see Fig.1），and the samples involve meat products，aquatic products，vegetables，fruits，eggs and their products，milk products，and agricultural inputs.The purpose of inspection ismainly focused on＂production needs＂，＂rights safeguarding＂and＂food safety＂，and particularly the first two account formore than 60% （see Fig.2）.The survey of actual demand for personal submission of agricultural product samples for inspection demonstrates that there are＂many＂behaviors of personal submission of samples for inspection in 25.9%of quality inspection institutions；there are＂a few＂behaviors of personal submission of samples for inspection in 44.4%of quality inspection institutions；there are＂few＂behaviors of personal submission of samples for inspection in 29.6%of quality inspection institutions.

2.2 Reasons for personal subm ission of agricultural product samp les for inspection（i）Production needs.More and more individuals and cooperative organizations submit the ready samples for testing to solve production problems，improve production mode，promote large-scale production，and increase income.The quality inspection institutions have become important technical support for agricultural production and consumption.（ii）Rights safeguarding needs.The food safety incidents sometimes occur，and consumers do not trust the quality of products，leading a strong demand for the detection.The personal submission of samples for inspection has become an importantmeans of self-protection in the food safety incidents.（iii）Food safety needs.People are increasingly concerned about the safety of fruits，vegetables，meat and eggs，and＂safety＂is a word that people aremostworried about.

2.3 The testing institutions'attitude towards the personal subm ission of samples for inspectionSurvey results show that 14.8%of30 quality inspection institutionswill notaccept the personal submission while the remaining 85.2%of institutions have indicated that theywillnormally receive individualsubmission.As to the reasons for the refusal of personal submission of samples for inspection，48.1%of institutions opt for＂many other tasks＂，and only 3.3%of institutions opt for＂institutional provision＂.From this，we can see that the quality inspection institutions hold a positive attitude towards personal submission of samples for inspection.

2.4 Lack of laws and regulations concerning personal subm ission of samples for inspectionAs of now，there are no clear national laws and regulations providing the rights and obligations between testing organization and submission party during the personal submission of samples for inspection agricultural products.Although the State General Administration for Quality Supervision pointed out that the consumers should test the products in the hands amid＂melamine incident＂in 2008，it is recommended to contact the local qualified inspection institutions.It should be noted that it isa civil act for the consumers to commission inspection institutions to testmelamine，and the test results are only responsible for the samples submitted.However，thesemeasuresare only expedientwhen responding to the emergencies，and they do not have a long term effect.

3 Causes of difficulties in personal subm ission of samples for inspection

3.1 Conflicts between quality inspection institutions'social responsibility and legal dispute concernsSome quality inspection institutions refuse to accept personal submission of samples for inspection in a way to avoid legal proceedings.Through research，it is found that 37%of quality inspection institutions have notyet conducted inspection arbitration tasksand the arbitration tasks of nearly 40.7%of quality inspection institutions are less than 1%of annual tasks，as shown in Fig.2.The personally submitted samples for safeguarding rights account for about twothirds of total personally submitted samples for inspection.

3.2 Conflict between personally required testing items and quality inspection institutions'testing capabilityFor all the qualified testing organizations，the scope of inspection activities they can carry out is clearly defined in the certification form.But in practice，the detection parameters of personal submitted samples do not fallwithin the scope of certification，making the testing institutions refuse to test.In addition，from the survey results，some submission persons are unable to explain clearly the testing items.Due to the temporary lack of detection method for some submitted samples，the testing institutions have no choice but to reject.

3.3 Conflict between the government task and individual taskSince2001，the Ministry of Agriculture has gradually established the routinemonitoring system for the quality and safety of agricultural products.Currently，themonitoring scope has covered 150 cities，80 kinds of agricultural products and 87 test parameters.With the expanding and deepening of supervision and inspection of the quality and safety of agricultural products，the testing institutions assumemore andmore government-directed tasks.The survey results（Fig.3-5）show that almost all of theministeriallevel testing institutionsare undertaking tasks commissioned by the government；the tasks commissioned by the government aremore than halfofannual tasks formore than 50%of testing institutions；the tasks of personal submission of samples for inspection are less than 1%of annual tasks formore than 50%of testing institutions；nearly 50%of testing institutions reject the personal submission of samples for inspection due to numerous government tasks.

3.4 Conflict between authenticity of products subm itted for inspection and rights safeguardingFor the testing institutions，the authenticity of samples submitted by government departments and manufacturers ismost reliable，and the inspection report will mark the product manufacturers and trademarks.If the samples are personally submitted，it is difficult to prove the authenticity of the product.In the test report，there are only test results，so it is difficult to take the test report as the basis of rights safeguarding，which is also one of the reasons for individuals'reluctance to submit samples for inspection.

4 Recommendations

4.1 Formulating the relevant laws and regulations and improving the relevant systemIn order tomeet the needs of personal submission of samples for inspection，the relevant state departments should introduce the relevant regulations and policies to stipulate the social welfare responsibility assumed by the testing institutions to accept consumers'personal submission of samples for inspection.At the same time，differentdepartments should improve the policies to ensure the interests of individuals and quality inspection institutions.

4.2 Developing the rapid detection products and improving the rapid detection standardsFor nitrite，melamine and other common harmful substanceseasy to detect，the use of rapid detection products for testing can meet the basic requirements.It is necessary to develop rapid detection products and constantly improve the rapid detection standards.Meanwhile，the government departments should improve the evaluation mechanism for rapid detection method and qualify the reliable rapid detectionmethod to make the rapid detectionmethod really work.

4.3 Scientifically using test results to avoid unnecessary econom ic lossesWith the increasing demand for personal submission of samples for inspection，there are no corresponding legal regulations on the reporting of personal submission of samples for inspection.Once some results having not been confirmed by professionals aremade public，itmay bring litigation risks to submission individuals.Therefore，when consumerswant to test samples for rights safeguarding，the submission of samples can be jointly commissioned by government departments，consumer council and production companies to avoid unnecessary economic losses.

4.4 Correctly guiding personal subm ission of samples for inspection and giving full play to the function ofmanagement departmentsThere are myriad types of food and agricultural products，involving a wide field，and testing is a highly professional job which requires participants to have high professional level，so the consumers should not blindly submit the samples to quality inspection institutions for inspection.The local administrative department of agriculture should lead the testing of agricultural products to guard a pass for the public by virtue of professionals in the department.

［1］YE XL，ZANG JJ.Analysis on individual inspection of consumers［J］.Modern Business Trade Industry，2013，25（9）：147-148.（in Chinese）.

［2］CHENG JG，ZHOU YL.The administrativemanual of product quality supervision and inspection organization of Ministry of Agriculture［M］.Beijing：China Agriculture Press，2009.（in Chinese）.