(Yicai Global) Sept. 4 -- The State Administration for Market Regulation recently met with food-delivery platforms to discuss the safety of meals ordered online and imposed clear demands for further implementation of the entity responsibility system. 

SAMR's Vice Deputy Sun Meijun spoke with executives of Meituan Dianping, Ele.me and other internet food and beverage delivery platforms.

The administration instructed these operators to complete self-inspections and correct their branch records within one month to ensure their complete rectification, and finish the onsite inspection of online food and beverage service providers also within a month to ensure these run physical stores and have obtained food operator licenses per law, SAMR announced on its official website yesterday.

The agency also directed these platforms to enhance the work management and food safety knowledge and training of delivery personnel to ensure food arrives in clean containers and to safeguard it from adulteration in transit, to keep strict logs and encourage restaurants to seal and label food to realize the 'clean kitchen and stove' online program. 

This action was originally an oversight initiative by China's former Food and Drug Administration that let customers check over the internet whether kitchen employees complied with regulations, whether kitchen hygiene was acceptable and prohibited articles were present in food preparation areas.

The Chinese government merged the CFDA with the newly-established SAMR and disbanded the former on April 10, Taiwanese international food safety compliance firm Sinew Consulting Group reported on its website.  

SAMR also mandated that food and beverage service platforms timely handle consumer complaints and respond immediately to media exposes of problems with online orders. Food and beverage platforms must also blacklist disreputable suppliers and immediately report them to regulators.

Takeaway platforms must also further perfect and implement complaint and report handling and reward mechanisms and encourage delivery personnel and food and beverage operators to report violations of food safety laws and regulations.

Relevant regulators at various levels must further stiffen food safety rules for online food and beverage service platforms, supervise them more strictly and press them to perform their entity responsibilities, the meetings also stressed. The platforms were also ordered to inspect, supervise and manage online sellers, guarantee the food safety of deliveries and constantly bear in mind the severe punishment for violations.

Editor: Ben Armour