Food safety administrative public interest litigation not only constitutes a statutory scope of administrative public interest litigation but also forms a part of China's social co-governance system for food safety. The pre-trial procedures in this context hold an independent value as a crucial institutional design for the balance between administrative power and procuratorial power. From the perspective of food safety social co-governance, the pre-trial procedures serve as the optimal mechanism for ensuring regulatory accountability of administrative agencies. Current issues occurring in pre-trial procedures in food safety administrative public interest litigation are examined including independent status and professional deficiency in judicial practice. Optimization pathways are then proposed, such as advancing relevant legislation and incorporating multi-stakeholder participation.