Implementation of food traceability systems in China faces many challenges due to the scale, diversity and complexity of China's food supply chains. This study aims to identify critical success factors specific to the implementation of traceability systems in China. Twenty-seven critical success factors were identified in the literature. Interviews with managers at four food enterprises in a pre-study helped identify success criteria and five additional critical success factors. These critical success factors were tested through a survey of managers in eighty-three food companies. This study identifies six dimensions for critical success factors: laws, regulations and standards; government support; consumer knowledge and support; effective management and communication;top management and vendor support; and information and system quality.

i CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR IMPLEMENTING TRACEABILITY SYSTEMS IN CHINESE FOOD ENTERPRISES MEIYIN MIAO ABSTRACTFood safety has always been the focus of worldwide attention. Chinese government has promulgated a series of initiatives, laws and regulations to implement the traceability systems since 2004. However, the implementation of traceability system (TS) in China faces many challenges which are creating major barriers to the traceability system implementation success. This research aims to identify critical success factors (CSF) for implementing TS in Chinese food enterprises. More specifically, the study attempts to develop a set of criteria of TS implementation success from theoretical and practical point of views and identify and propose a framework of critical success factors for TS implementation success.To achieve the research objectives, this research adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches.