Abstract: Nowadays, China’s legal systems of food safety standards include the horizontal and vertical system and compulary and non-compulsary systems according to different criteria. These standards coming from planned economy system have caused the problems as follows: Food safety standards are separated from the legal systems; The legal nature, the source of legal effect and the legal ranks of the compulsary standards for food safety are vague; The scope and contents of the compulsary standards for food safety are unreasonable.To resolve the legal problems of food safety standards, the united food safety standards system should be established, which is consistent with the standards of WTO, and the food safety basic law needs making to establish the legal status of food safety standards.

Key words: food safety standards, legal systems for food safety standards