As the casual snack market continues to expand, food safety issues occasionally arise, posing a hidden concern for the industry’s development. Understanding these risk factors can help consumers make more informed purchasing decisions and enable companies to strengthen quality management in a targeted manner.

According to random inspection data from the State Administration for Market Regulation, among the major categories of snack foods, fried snacks and nut products recorded the highest non-compliance rate at 2.32%, while pastries and fruit products also exceeded a 1% non-compliance rate. In terms of the types of issues, the most prominent problem was the use of food additives beyond the permitted scope or limits, accounting for 42.86% of all non-compliance cases. Other issues include microbial contamination, failure to meet quality standards (such as excessive peroxide value or acid value), and mycotoxin contamination.

Specifically, the issues vary across different product categories. For fried snacks and nut products, the primary concerns are excessive peroxide values and acid values—indicators of lipid oxidation and rancidity. Nuts are rich in unsaturated fatty acids; if stored improperly or for too long, these lipids can oxidize and become rancid, developing an off-flavor that may pose health risks with prolonged consumption. In pastry products, the main problem is the overuse of preservatives, such as dehydroacetic acid and sorbic acid, which exceed the limits set by national standards. As for candied snacks, they represent a hotbed of food additive violations, with common issues including the excessive use of colorants and the unauthorized addition of sweeteners.

In the realm of internet-famous snacks, the “two excesses and one illegal” issue deserves particular attention. The so-called “two excesses and one illegal” refers to the overuse or exceeding of permitted limits for food additives, as well as the illegal addition of pharmaceuticals and non-food substances. According to random inspection results, the categories of internet-famous snacks with the most problems include candied fruits and preserves, seasoned flour products (spicy strips), pickled and fermented vegetable snacks, baked goods, dried fruits and fruit products, and meat-based snacks. For example, certain candied fruit products were found to contain unauthorized levels of multiple colorants such as Brilliant Blue and Amaranth, as well as preservatives like benzoic acid; some spicy strips were found to exceed the permitted limits for the sweetener sucralose; and a number of compressed candy tablets marketed for “weight loss” or “laxative” effects were even detected to contain illegally added pharmaceutical ingredients such as sibutramine and sodium picosulfate.

At a deeper level, the root causes of food safety issues often lie in inadequate supply-chain management and weak corporate governance. ESG (environmental, social, and governance) consulting experts point out that product quality and food safety are among a company’s most critical priorities, yet supply-chain management is precisely the area where information disclosure is most frequently compromised. In particular, aspects such as raw-material sourcing, contract-manufacturing oversight, supplier audits, and supplier-rating systems are often addressed only in broad, principle-based terms, with scant detail on actual implementation—yet it is precisely at this stage that real risks tend to surface. For example, practices such as using hydrogen peroxide to bleach chicken feet and finding excessive levels of heavy metals and pesticide residues in freeze-dried strawberries can largely be traced back to uncontrolled operations at the upstream end of the supply chain.

In the current landscape of food safety, platforms cannot shirk their governance responsibilities. As e-commerce platforms and livestreaming channels increasingly serve as the primary sales channels for popular online snack products, these platforms must assume stricter obligations regarding market access and product selection. They should establish dynamic assessment and ongoing review mechanisms for high-risk product categories and work collaboratively with brands to ensure the swift removal and recall of problematic products. Only by fostering coordinated governance across the entire value chain and ecosystem can the industry’s food safety standards be genuinely elevated.