The "Provisions on the Supervision and Administration of Online Catering Service Operators Implementing the Main Responsibility for Food" (hereinafter referred to as the "Provisions"), promulgated by Order No. 123 of the State Administration for Market Regulation, came into effect on June 1,2026. The "Provisions" put forward requirements such as prominent labeling of stores without dine-in services, substantive review of merchant qualifications, and "open kitchen"Mingchu Liangzao) identification. On June 5, a reporter from the Legal Daily logged into mainstream food delivery platforms and found that various labels on the selection pages were clear eye-catching, and the ordering process had become more transparent. The effects of the implementation of the "Provisions" are evident. Previously, "ghost stores" hidden in buildings, urban villages, and other places not only had problems such as forging or failing to obtain food business licenses and substandard kitchen hygiene, but were also difficult to regulate, harming the safety and legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Interviewed experts believe that the "Provisions" directly address the problem of information asymmetry in online catering and promote the shift of supervision formal review to substantive management. Clear kitchen labels and strict qualification verification for onboard merchants are not only powerful means of safeguarding the "safety on the tip of the tongue" of the masses but will also force the industry to move towards standardized development. To achieve long-term governance, coordinated efforts from platforms, regulatory departments, and consumers are still needed. Standardized and Transparent Information Disclosure Ms. Liu, a Beijing resident and office worker, relies on food delivery for most of her daily meals. In the past, when placing an order, she always worried about choosing a store with substandard hygiene or questionable business qualifications. She could only repeatedly browse merchant information and combine it with netizens' reviews, making the meal selection process very. "After the implementation of the 'Provisions', the store information on the platform is clear at a glance. The green 'dine-in available' text, the realtime viewing entrance for 'open kitchen', and the gray 'no open kitchen' label are all displayed in prominent positions on the store's homepage," Ms. Liu said. On 3, when ordering food delivery, she checked the hygiene conditions through the store's kitchen live stream and quickly filtered merchants based on their business format labels, making the ordering process worry-free and reassuring. The reporter found that even before the "Provisions" were officially implemented, major platforms had already completed page optimization, and the ordering experience for consumers been completely renewed. On the store recommendation homepage, the distinction between business formats is very clear: stores with offline dine-in areas are marked with prominent green text indicating dine-in available; pure delivery stores are marked with gray "no dine-in" text, intuitively distinguishing the two types of business formats. Regarding the "open kitchen" section, also have implementation examples: on the merchant selection interface of the food delivery platform, merchants that have connected real-time monitoring and can normally display kitchen images are equipped with a prominent " kitchen" label. After consumers click on it, they enter an interface that loads real-time images, allowing them to view the dynamics of food processing, kitchen environment, and personnel in real time; merchants that have not yet completed equipment installation and cannot provide real-time images will also be marked with "no open kitchen" in gray text in a prominent position Both types of labels are fixed in the core area of the store's homepage, with no blocking or hiding, and all information is open and transparent.

Changes in the food ordering scene have allowed online catering consumption to bid farewell to the past dilemma of "v information and difficulty in distinguishing truth from falsehood." Many consumers admit that today, relying on page labels, they can quickly judge the type of store and the supervision status of the kitchen, then filter them out with real-time videos to effectively avoid high-risk merchants. The food ordering process has become simple and clear, and the sense of consumption security has significantly improved Achieving a comprehensive upgrade of industry supervision Reporters noted that the "Regulations" improve the online catering supervision rules from multiple dimensions such as information disclosure, market access, process supervision, achieving a comprehensive upgrade of industry supervision. For example, it requires online catering service providers to submit true and valid business qualification certificates to platform providers, and prohibits the use false or others' business qualifications to provide catering services online; it requires platform providers to conduct real-name registration for online catering service providers; it stipulates that local market supervision and management at or above the county level should strengthen the supervision and inspection of food safety in online catering services, and investigate and punish online catering service operators who commit food safety violations in accordance the law, etc. In the view of Zhen Jingshan, deputy director of Beijing Xingquan Law Firm, the biggest change brought by the "Regulations" is promoting the of online catering supervision towards substantive safety. Previously, platforms often conducted formal reviews of online certificates, making it difficult to truly screen out problems such as fake certificates and address affiliation of some merchants, and supervision was mainly based on ex post investigation and punishment, which had a certain lag; now, the "Regulations" codify three requirements: mandatory labeling of no dinein, substantive review of qualifications, and full coverage of "bright kitchens", building a full-chain system of ex ante prevention, in-process management, and ex post accountability, the survival space of "ghost stores" from the source. "Mandatory labeling of no dine-in can divide risk levels, helping supervision departments carry out inspections in key areas as residential buildings and urban villages, greatly improving supervision efficiency; substantive review of qualifications requires platforms to carry out on-site verification and regular dynamic review, upgrading one-time online certificate to normalized offline verification, plugging the loophole of 'online licensed, offline unlicensed'; 'bright kitchens' break the traditional supervision blind spot of the kitchen, and real-time visual monitoring the entire food processing process traceable and evidence retainable, achieving an organic combination with offline spot checks," said Zhen Jingshan. Sun Juanjuan, associate professor at the School Humanities and Social Sciences of Hebei Agricultural University and researcher at the Collaborative Innovation Center for Food Safety Governance of Renmin University of China, told reporters that the "Regulations" on the hand consolidate the main responsibility of takeout platforms, and on the other hand build up supervision channels for ordinary consumers. Consumers can rely on public information to independently choose merchants, use consumption behavior force operators to standardize their operations, and effectively play the role of social supervision.

"It is worth noting that 'delivery-only' is a normal business model and should not be with 'ghost kitchens'. The goal of industry governance is to promote transparent operations for pure delivery stores, rather than completely rejecting this business format," Sun Juanjuan added. What happens merchants evade regulation after the "Regulations" are implemented? During the interview, some consumers expressed concern. In response, Zhen Jingshan bluntly stated that due to factors such as merchants profit-seeking mentality and platform execution deviations, loopholes such as fake compliance disguises, unauthorized closing of surveillance cameras, and qualification borrowing may occur. To build a strong regulatory defense, a multi-pronged approach is necessary: on one hand, platform responsibilities must be solidified by establishing mechanisms for dedicated personnel to conduct on-site verification and irregular follow-up checks, and platforms that fail to perform their duties should be held legally accountable; on the other hand, market regulatory departments should launch special rectification actions to severely punish illegal acts such as labeling and operating with borrowed licenses; they should also utilize technologies like big data and artificial intelligence to achieve intelligent early warning, and keep the 12315 reporting channel open mobilize social forces to participate in supervision. Multi-party Co-governance Escorts Long-term Development In the view of the interviewed experts, the "Regulations" and regulatory measures are running in parallel, profoundly changing the development landscape of the online catering industry, and their long-term impact on the industry is drawing widespread attention. Zheningshan analyzed that the "Regulations" significantly increase the cost of illegal operations, which will accelerate the exit of non-compliant "ghost kitchens" and create a fair competitive business environment For the vast majority of small and medium-sized delivery merchants, normalized on-site inspections and hygiene supervision will also force operators to establish food safety awareness and develop habits of standardized operation From the consumer side, fully disclosed business information and back-of-house footage fully guarantee consumers' right to know and supervise, and can also effectively reduce consumer disputes caused by food and other issues. How to establish a long-term governance mechanism so that consumers can order food with understanding and peace of mind? Zhen Jingshan suggested that first, a multi-party co-governance pattern of government regulation, industry self-discipline, and social supervision should be constructed, relying on industry associations to formulate self-discipline and collaborating with media, consumer organizations, etc., to strengthen external supervision; second, a civil compensation and remedy mechanism should be improved, simplifying the consumer rights protection process, while promoting safety liability insurance to add another layer of protection for consumer rights; third, a graded and classified supervision of merchants should be implemented, dividing risk levels based on credit records and business scale and increasing the frequency of inspections for high-risk merchants; finally, technological empowerment should be continuously deepened, relying on technologies like blockchain and big data to improve the level of intelligent throughout the entire process. Sun Juanjuan believes that platforms cannot only focus on short-term traffic and revenue; only by holding the bottom line of food safety can they maintain a platform ecosystem and achieve sustainable development. The entire industry needs to form a consensus, taking compliant operation and food safety as the foundation of development. Platforms should actively increase their investment in compliance. In addition to regular audits, they can also fully leverage the offline advantages of delivery riders, implement supervision methods such as "snap and report", and build a multi-point 24/7 supervision network.

"Nowadays, the public display of labels on food delivery platforms has become the norm, and the 'Regulations' mark a step in regulating the food delivery industry. From clearly visible business type labels to fully visible kitchen monitoring, and increasingly strict qualification reviews, a series of changes are safeguarding the food safety hundreds of millions of consumers and promoting the steady progress of the online catering industry on the path of standardization and green development," said Zhen Jingshan. Reporter's Notebook the implementation of the "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of Online Catering Service Operators Implementing the Main Responsibility for Food Safety", platforms uniformly label business types and launch "open kitchen" initiatives making the operating status of food delivery merchants intuitively visible to consumers. This is not only an upgrade in page display, but also an important step towards the refined and substantive supervision of online catering The reporter observed that problems such as former "ghost stores", substandard kitchen hygiene, and falsified merchant qualifications have been long-standing pain points in the food delivery industry. asymmetry makes ordering food like a "blind choice" for consumers, leaving everyone constantly worried about food safety. The "Regulations" this time, with measures such as labeling "no dinein", substantive qualification reviews, and "open kitchens", have connected the entire chain of pre-entry, in-process supervision, and post-event traceability. By bringing hidden kitchens vague business types into the light, it both squeezes the survival space of non-compliant merchants and truly returns the right to know and the right to choose to consumers. As become clearer, supervision must become tougher. The implementation of the "Regulations" is not the end. Platforms need to shoulder the main responsibility, guarding the review gateway with normalized inspections and risk control; regulatory departments should focus on precise law enforcement in key areas such as urban villages and residential buildings; at the same time, they should make good use of social supervision, making food delivery riders and consumers "supervisors" of food safety. From "unclear" to "clear", and from "passive investigation" to "active prevention the "Regulations" have set a compliance bottom line for the industry. The reporter believes that only through multi-party collaboration and long-term efforts, ensuring the full implementation of the without compromise, can the long-term development of online catering be safeguarded, making every order by the public safe and reassuring. (Outlook New Era)