This article discusses what we know about some of the main food safety risks in China. The focus is on role of the China Total Diet Study (TDS) as a tool for food safety risk assessment and the selection of priorities for monitoring. We compare the strengths and weaknesses of the TDS with those of two other major sources of information about food safety and nutrition: the National Food Safety Contamination Monitoring Network (FSCN) and the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), showing how the different methods they use produce different but complementary information. We then use an analysis of lead, cadmium and pesticide residues to demonstrate that, despite its shortcomings, the TDS provides the most reliable source of information about the actual dietary intake of harmful substances.