On the Challenges and Prospects of Punitive Damages in the Food and Drug Sector

Food and drug safety governance is a core issue in safeguarding public health. The punitive damages system in China faces contradictions and predicaments in judicial practice in this field. Based on relevant data from court judgments, this article analyzes the problems of the punitive damages system in the food and drug sector, such as the rigidity of compensation standards, the insufficiency of compensation for small-scale food purchases leading to an inversion of the cost and benefit of rights protection, the ambiguity in the identity recognition of “knowingly purchasing counterfeit goods”, and inconsistent judicial judgment standards; the mechanical application of administrative standards such as food safety standards, ignoring the differences in subjective fault and damage consequences in individual cases. This article attempts to propose targeted solutions, such as establishing a flexible compensation model that links the minimum compensation amount with the economic level, refining new standards for consumer identity recognition, and establishing a dynamic grading system for food safety standards, aiming to enhance the deterrent and fairness of the punitive damages system and provide references for deepening the rule of law in food and drug safety governance.