The new regulations for takeout and online food sales have arrived. We must warn food delivery platforms that they cannot only charge commissions without taking responsibility; they cannot only focus on traffic without considering quality. Food delivery platforms must truly take on the main responsibility of being the 'gatekeepers' of food safety. "On the afternoon of February 26th, the relevant person in charge of the State Administration for Market Regulation said at a press conference. On that day, the State Administration for Market Regulation interpreted the recently formulated "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of the Implementation of Food Safety Main Responsibility by Online Catering Service Operators" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") and "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of the Implementation of Food Safety Main Responsibility by Online Food Sales Operators". To eliminate "ghost food delivery", the new regulations require food delivery platforms to conduct substantive reviews of food business licenses and other business qualification certificates of food delivery merchants through on-site inspections, and to verify and update the actual business address and other information registered by food delivery merchants at least once every 6 months. The Regulations will officially come into effect on June 1st. Non dine in merchants must set up special labels. According to the annual report of China's catering industry, the size of China's takeaway market is expected to exceed 1.4 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of over 10%, accounting for about 24% of the total revenue of the catering industry and becoming an important growth pole in the industry. Sun Huichuan, Director of Food Safety at the State Administration for Market Regulation, introduced that through daily supervision, it has been found that some food delivery merchants provide fake addresses, some upload fake photos, and some even have fake qualifications. Such food delivery cannot be trusted. At the same time, some food delivery platforms focus solely on their own businesses, close their eyes to review, and blindly condone dishonest merchants and problematic food delivery, ignoring the platform's responsibility and food safety. In response to these situations, in order to further improve the safety level of food delivery in the catering industry, the State Administration for Market Regulation has specially formulated and issued the "Regulations", focusing on three aspects to enhance the "confidence index" of food delivery. On the one hand, we must closely adhere to the platform's main responsibility, which is the "bull's nose". The Regulations have refined the management responsibilities of food delivery platforms for the entire chain of merchant qualification review, information disclosure, process control, and problem resolution. We must warn food delivery platforms that they cannot only charge commissions without taking responsibility; they cannot only focus on traffic without considering quality. Food delivery platforms must truly take on the main responsibility of being the 'gatekeeper' of food safety. On the other hand, we must focus on the 'key point' of standardized business operations for merchants. The Regulation stipulates that merchants must have real physical stores, and their business projects, addresses, and qualification certificates must be consistent. Merchants must strictly implement requirements such as raw material control, facility maintenance, and operating standards, and are not allowed to process food outside the operating area or entrust others to do OEM work; For merchants who do not provide dine in services, special signage must be set up. In addition, establish a "protective net" against illegal and irregular punishment. Food delivery platforms are essentially e-commerce platforms. The "Regulations" are connected with the "Electronic Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China" to include food delivery platforms in the unified regulatory framework of e-commerce platform operators, further strengthening the legal responsibilities of platforms in information reporting, data sharing, and consumer rights protection; At the same time, the punishment for illegal activities on the platform and merchants will be significantly increased, with a maximum fine of 200000 yuan. If the main person in charge of the platform intentionally violates the law, has a bad nature, and causes serious consequences, they can also be fined more than 1 time and less than 10 times their previous year's income. The regulation is expected to address the pain point of food safety in online catering services - ghost takeout - while requiring platforms to register real names of external sellers. Ghost food delivery "is a popular online term, which essentially refers to illegal operators without qualifications or fixed locations who disguise themselves as legitimate businesses on food delivery platforms through methods such as qualification fraud, license application, and address fabrication. Yu Lu, Director of the Catering and Food Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, introduced that in order to rectify "ghost takeout", it is necessary to trace back to the source and build a systematic governance system. The "Regulations" will establish a comprehensive and multi-level governance system through a combination of three strategies: "rectifying the source, clearing the flow, and consolidating the foundation", effectively eliminating the breeding ground for "ghost food delivery" and transforming food delivery merchants from "paper compliance" to "visible reality". The Regulation requires food delivery platforms to register food delivery merchants with real names and conduct substantive reviews of their food business licenses and other business qualification certificates through on-site inspections, to ensure that the information stated in the food delivery merchant's business qualification certificate matches the actual situation, rather than just conducting formal reviews. By strengthening the access review of food delivery platforms for external sellers, we will solidify their responsibility as the "first gatekeeper" for online review of food delivery merchants. The Regulation requires food delivery platforms to verify and compare the food business license and other business qualification information of food delivery merchants with the data held by provincial market supervision departments. If the verification does not match, platform services shall not be provided to them. Break down the data barriers between food delivery platforms and regulatory authorities, eliminate "information silos", achieve "one-stop verification, two-way calibration, and real-time feedback" of qualification information, and effectively block the path of false and invalid qualifications "entering the network with problems". The Regulation also requires food delivery platforms to verify and update the actual business address, business qualifications, and other information registered by food delivery merchants at least once every six months to ensure that the above information is consistent with the actual situation. This is not simply a regular card update, but a transformation of static admission into a continuous tracking "lifecycle management". Delivery platforms must actively conduct information review, qualification verification, and on-site spot checks during the verification window period to ensure that the business situation of delivery merchants remains true and effective. In addition, in order to safeguard the "safety on the tip of the tongue" of consumers, targeted regulations have been made based on the characteristics of online consumption scenarios to ensure that consumers understand, trust, and enjoy their consumption. One is to strengthen the obligation of information disclosure, requiring online catering and food sellers to continuously publicize their business qualifications and other information in a prominent position on the homepage, ensuring consumers' right to know and choose. The second is to strengthen food safety protection. The platform needs to establish intelligent monitoring, rapid disposal and other control mechanisms, and include business qualifications, public information, etc. in the food safety risk control list to solidify the platform's responsibilities; At the same time, a red line of conduct will be established for catering operators who enter the network, strictly prohibiting the processing and use of unqualified food raw materials, illegal processing and production of food, and other behaviors. The third is to facilitate channels for complaints and reports. The platform needs to set up complaint and report links and handle them in a timely manner. Food sales companies will include the handling of complaints in their control lists, and also advocate for food delivery personnel to participate in social supervision, report illegal issues in a timely manner, and build a social governance pattern for food safety. (New Society)