Rumors harm farmers: how can we eradicate the soil in which they breed?

Food safety rumors that spring up from time to time harm the interests of both agricultural producers and consumers, and they also deal a blow to the enthusiasm for food safety work, which is not conducive to building a healthy and safe relationship from farm to table. Therefore, efforts must be made on multiple fronts and measures taken to put a stop to rumors that harm farmers as soon as possible.

A grape variety developed through continuous technological research fell victim to a "black September"; a cooperative that had been built up through tremendous hardship lost as much as 1.6 million yuan in a single month; a grape brand that had obtained "Green Food" certification was almost destroyed overnight... Recently, the rumor that "seedless grapes cause infertility" once again drew public attention.

From "strawberries with excessive acetochlor may cause cancer" to "cucumbers with bumps and flowers can cause infertility," and now to this "seedless grapes cause infertility," a review of past incidents of rumors harming farmers shows that seemingly absurd conclusions, when paired with "plausible-looking" sampling or investigations that appear to offer "pictures and the truth," can easily spread virally on the internet and in WeChat Moments, ultimately escalating into a large-scale case of agricultural products piling up unsold.

These rumors almost all repeat the same path: the rumor "goes online" - onlookers panic - agricultural products pile up unsold and farmers suffer losses - the media reports - experts refute the rumor - the agricultural industry struggles to recover. Then it falls into passivity waiting for the next round of hot rumors. It is in these repeated rounds of passivity that the hope for industrial development is consumed from within, and the trust in society is torn apart step by step.

Rumors that cause agricultural products to pile up unsold not only inflict severe damage on the interests and feelings of agricultural producers. In the long run, they also harm consumer rights. In such a lose-lose outcome, it is ultimately the whole of society that pays the price.

So why do such rumors find a market? Analyzing the reasons rumors arise and spread rapidly easily brings to mind a joke: "Truth and lies were bathing by the river. The lie finished first, put on truth's clothes and left, and afterward the truth, having finished bathing, absolutely refused to put on the lie's clothes. From then on, people's eyes saw only the lie wearing truth's clothes, and they could no longer accept the truth that took so long to come ashore." The reason rumors can always run ahead of the truth is largely that rumors have no need for integrity, while the truth is simply too poor at packaging and selling itself.

In recent years, more and more consumers have begun to pursue a concept of healthy and safe food consumption. But when it comes to judging whether food is safe, they lack professional and direct experiential knowledge, and therefore urgently hope to receive truthful, accurate, transparent and timely information. Before they can get it, some people are easily misled because of information hunger. And on matters involving "eating," the vast majority of people tend to adopt the cautious attitude of "better to believe it exists than to believe it does not." This also reflects that there is still a certain gap to close between the dissemination of food safety information and consumer demand.

On the other hand, the tendency to be "anti-expert" and "anti-professional knowledge" in food safety rumor incidents is worth guarding against. In recent years, in the face of all kinds of public safety incidents, the credibility and authority of industry experts have repeatedly been questioned. It is true that questioning experts' professional knowledge reflects the rise of awareness of rights to safe and healthy consumption, but in the comment threads under reports refuting the "seedless grapes cause infertility" rumor, quite a few netizens refused rational discussion because they questioned expert authority. This is especially worth reflecting on - one can question experts, but one cannot and need not draw a clear line against science and reason. The rejection of reason caused by information asymmetry also reflects the necessity and urgency of strengthening the popularization of scientific knowledge and public guidance in the field of public safety, especially food safety.

It cannot be denied that in recent years China has adopted increasingly strict measures to strengthen food safety. Whether government, enterprises, cooperatives, farmers or consumers, the string of food safety is being pulled tighter and tighter. "Half a year of hard work, ruined in a single morning by a rumor." Food safety rumors that spring up from time to time harm the interests of both agricultural producers and consumers, and they also deal a blow to the enthusiasm for food safety work, which is not conducive to building a healthy and safe relationship from farm to table. Therefore, efforts must be made on multiple fronts and measures taken to put a stop to rumors that harm farmers as soon as possible.

First, we must clear away the soil in which rumors breed, always taking the strengthening of food safety as the foundation and continuously raising the level of food safety. Only by providing safe and healthy agricultural products and reassuring consumers can rumors surrounding food safety be deprived of the soil in which to survive. The government, the media, food processing enterprises and agricultural producers must work together, strictly follow relevant national laws and regulations, and use "the most rigorous standards, the strictest supervision, the most severe penalties and the most serious accountability" to regulate every link in the food industry chain, ensuring "safety on the tip of the tongue."

Second, we must build positive interaction among the government, the public, the media and expert think tanks, and continuously enhance the effectiveness of dialogue among all parties. Professional forces should be organized to release information in a timely manner, and at the same time, we should join with professional institutions to innovate formats and do a good job of popularizing food safety, helping the public improve their ability to identify rumors and enabling professional knowledge to better reach the general public.

Finally, we must severely crack down on the sources that manufacture food safety rumors, so that rumor-mongers bear the legal responsibility they deserve. Although the Food Safety Law clarifies the public-interest publicity and media supervision duties of social media, it lacks punitive measures for rumors in the field of food safety. It is suggested that punitive measures targeting food safety rumors be formulated in accordance with the Criminal Law and the Law on Public Security Administration Punishments, so that rumor-mongers dare not fabricate rumors.