In recent years, live streaming e-commerce has become an important way of food sales due to its strong interactivity, wide dissemination range, and high transaction efficiency. At the same time, the chaos of false advertising, counterfeiting and shoddy products in the field of food live streaming e-commerce is gradually increasing. How to regulate this market? On January 16th, the State Administration for Market Regulation released the "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of the Implementation of Food Safety Main Responsibility by Live E-commerce Operators" to the public, which directly targets live e-commerce operators. So, who exactly do live streaming e-commerce operators refer to? What responsibilities should they bear in implementing food safety according to regulations? Live streaming e-commerce is an emerging e-commerce model, commonly known as live streaming sales: sellers display products in real time on the live streaming platform, introduce product features and usage methods, and interact with the audience by providing shopping links, allowing the audience to directly purchase products while watching the live stream. Compared with previous sales methods, live streaming sales has become a widely popular sales and marketing method due to its convenient and fast transaction characteristics. But this new sales method has exposed many problems in the field of food safety. Mao Weiqi, legal advisor of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said: "Due to the lack of implementation of the main responsibility for food safety by live streaming companies and platforms, and the failure to inspect the food sold, some problems have arisen, resulting in the infringement of consumers' rights. However, online live streaming e-commerce is a very complex business model that involves many legal relationships, and it is difficult for consumers' rights to be effectively protected after being harmed. The people have strong reactions. Therefore, the State Administration for Market Regulation has specially issued this regulation for online food e-commerce platforms based on the implementation of the main responsibility regulations for food safety by food production and operation enterprises. According to platform statistics, the biggest consumer opinion and complaint is" false advertising of food in live streaming rooms ". Many cases of false advertising about food are impressive, such as "There are no sweet potatoes in the sweet potato vermicelli": a live streamer with over 22 million fans who sells a lot of products during live streaming. In her live streaming room, a sweet potato vermicelli has always been a hot selling item, and she repeatedly guarantees that the main ingredient of this vermicelli is sweet potatoes without any additives. But due to consumer complaints, regulatory authorities intervened. After sampling and testing, it was found that the sweet potato vermicelli sold by this anchor in the live broadcast room did not contain any sweet potato derived ingredients in the sample. The so-called "pure sweet potato production" is purely false commercial advertising. The regulatory authorities have imposed penalties for this: confiscating the illegal gains of the anchor's company and imposing a total fine of 1.65 million yuan, ordering the suspension of operations and a deadline for rectification; The sweet potato flour production enterprise involved has also been shut down, with illegal gains confiscated and a fine of over 6.7 million yuan imposed. Another internet celebrity anchor, who was also punished for false advertising, was found by relevant departments to have engaged in false and misleading commercial promotion of Hong Kong Meicheng mooncakes. The company where this anchor works has therefore had its illegal gains confiscated, fined 68.94 million yuan, and ordered to suspend operations and rectify within a specified period of time. Mao Weiqi: "From the current situation of some live streaming influencers who have experienced setbacks, there is a lack of implementation of their main responsibility for food safety. The main manifestation is that they did not have a clear understanding of the products they (sell) before live streaming, and did not have a clear understanding of the nature, ingredients, and functions of the products they endorse or sell. It can also be said that they did not fulfill their main responsibility for food safety and did not check the factory qualification certificates of the products sold. This new regulation clearly requires them to fulfill the obligation of purchasing inspection before live streaming, have a reporting obligation, and not make false advertising during the live streaming process. To solve the chaos of live streaming food sales, the first step is to clarify the responsibility chain. The "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of the Implementation of Main Responsibility for Food Safety by Live streaming E-commerce Operators" for the first time clarify that live streaming e-commerce operators are not a single entity, but cover four main entities: live streaming e-commerce platform operators, live streaming room operators, live streaming marketing personnel, and live streaming marketing personnel service institutions. These four entities are interrelated and constitute the complete chain of online food sales. The "Regulations" clarify responsibilities from the outer to the inner layers, making each link have a clear "responsibility list" and strengthening the rigid constraints of the entire chain. As the core link of the chain, live streaming marketers, especially celebrities and internet celebrities engaged in food live streaming e-commerce activities, should establish a strict product selection system for the first time, verify relevant food information, and keep relevant records for no less than three years for future reference. The Regulations clarify the responsibilities of live streaming marketers: they should fulfill their inspection obligations, ensure the authenticity of information, and not engage in false advertising. Liu Xiaochun, director of the Internet Rule of Law Research Center of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: "At the end of the live broadcast, people want to bring goods. But in fact, he is not a professional seller, especially he may not have any knowledge of food safety, so now we need to give them a series of obligations, that is, although you are an amateur, you should become more professional, and you should go to receive training or not go to find a professional organization to do such a series of compliance reviews. Because food safety is absolutely not a trivial matter, every thing is a major matter, and we should do a good job in prevention and control at the source." Not only that, the regulations also list the responsibility of the live broadcast e-commerce platform as the general gatekeeper and the first responsible person. According to the 2025 China Network Audiovisual Development Research Report, as of the end of 2024, the number of online live streaming users in China has exceeded 830 million, accounting for 75.2% of the total number of netizens, and the number of anchor accounts has also exceeded 180 million, forming a huge live streaming trading market. Faced with such a huge market volume, the responsibility of the platform is particularly crucial. Based on the technological and data advantages of the platform, the "Regulations" have put forward higher requirements for food safety risk control, clarifying the full process work mechanism of "intelligent monitoring, investigation and scheduling, and rapid disposal". Specifically, the platform must include the qualifications of the operator of the live streaming room, the compliance of live streaming food, and the legality of live streaming behavior in the "Food Safety Risk Control List" as key control points. Before live streaming, it is necessary to strictly verify the qualifications of the live streamer; During live streaming, issues such as false advertising and counterfeit products can be detected in a timely manner through intelligent monitoring; After live streaming, sales records must be kept for three years to provide a basis for subsequent rights protection and supervision. Strengthening the safety responsibility of the platform in live food sales is to block the flow of counterfeit and inferior food to the market at every stage of the entire process. When counterfeit and inferior food appears in the live broadcast room, consumers can directly seek protection from the platform. For example, agricultural products are a major target of live streaming sales, and many agricultural products themselves do not have production labels and qualification certificates. The quality depends entirely on the host's words. Especially some famous and special agricultural products are often counterfeited in live streaming rooms. At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, it is the season to eat winter bamboo shoots. Lin'an winter bamboo shoots and Tianmu thunder bamboo shoots, produced in Lin'an, Hangzhou, have excellent quality and high popularity, becoming the protagonists of sales in various e-commerce live streaming rooms. The average price of Lin'an winter bamboo shoots sold in the live broadcast room is around 10 yuan per kilogram, but local growers in Lin'an told reporters that this price is simply not enough to cover the cost. This year, the purchase price per kilogram of winter bamboo shoots in Lin'an is around 20 yuan, while the selling price in the live broadcast room is 10 yuan per kilogram. Not only is the price difference large, but the actual production does not match the online sales. Some live streaming merchants often sell tens of thousands of winter bamboo shoots in Lin'an. The reporter learned from the Lin'an agricultural department that this winter is dry and rainy, and the actual winter bamboo shoot production is simply not enough to support the large-scale sales of online live streaming rooms nationwide. So, where did the low-priced 'Lin'an winter bamboo shoots' in the live broadcast room come from? Based on some information from the live broadcast room, the reporter conducted a visit. In a rural live broadcast e-commerce center in Yuanzhen Town, the Taihu Lake District, Lin'an District, the reporter saw some staff packing various winter bamboo shoots. From the slogans on the live broadcast site and the place of origin on the product packaging, it can be seen that the products sold here are local "Lin'an Winter Bamboo Shoots". But the cars at the entrance are all from other provinces, which raises some doubts. On the table next to the ice making warehouse, the reporter saw a confiscated purchase record book that leaked the true source of low-priced winter bamboo shoots. The latest purchase record shows that on January 10th, 8000 kilograms were received from Hunan. Experts told reporters that the purchase price of winter bamboo shoots from other provinces is only 4-5 yuan per kilogram. Some vendors purchase cheap winter bamboo shoots and bring them to Lin'an, pretending to be local winter bamboo shoots in Lin'an and selling them at a markup in the live broadcast room. This not only deceives consumers but also harms the interests of local growers, causing serious harm to high-quality winter bamboo shoot production areas. According to the "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of the Implementation of Main Responsibility for Food Safety by Live E-commerce Operators", consumers can directly seek protection from the platform in this situation. The "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of the Implementation of Main Responsibility for Food Safety by Live Streaming E-commerce Operators" clarifies the list of 13 prohibited foods and 10 prohibitions on live streaming behavior in response to prominent issues in food sales in live streaming rooms. At the same time, it requires online live streaming e-commerce platforms to effectively fulfill their food safety management responsibilities, and provides clear and severe punishments for dereliction of duty and dereliction of duty. Mao Weiqi: "The new regulations clarify the basis for punishment, enhance the pertinence of supervision, and stipulate corresponding penalties for live streaming e-commerce platforms that fail to fulfill their full chain obligations of pre review, in-process monitoring, and post inspection. Some requirements have been made, such as ordering correction, warning, fines, and even revoking licenses for serious circumstances. The legal application of live streaming e-commerce platforms has been clarified." It is worth noting that the introduction of the "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of the Implementation of Food Safety Main Responsibility by Live Streaming E-commerce Operators" is not a standalone measure in the field of food safety. The recently released "Measures for the Supervision and Management of Live E-commerce" have comprehensively regulated common issues such as false advertising and difficulties in consumer rights protection in the live streaming field, established an overall framework for the supervision of live e-commerce, and clarified that platforms are the "first responsible persons for ecological governance" and need to bear full chain regulatory responsibilities. The regulations released this time are a special refinement and supplement to the key area of food safety based on the "Supervision and Management Measures for Live E-commerce", which will be officially implemented on March 20th this year. Food safety is directly related to public health and consumer trust, whether it is offline sales or online live sales, this is the bottom line that the industry cannot touch. The Regulation focuses on "full chain management and accountability at all stages", clarifies industry access requirements, consolidates the responsibilities of the "first person in charge" of the platform, clarifies the responsibilities of live broadcast room operators, marketing personnel service agencies, and marketing personnel, and also strengthens supervision and management methods, and refines consumer protection content. Accurately managing industry chaos and filling responsibility gaps is not only a demonstration of the country's determination to regulate the industry, but also to build a strong defense line for "safety on the tip of the tongue". Only in this way can live streaming e-commerce have a more sustainable development. (New Society)