China’s food inspection authorities on Thursday released new regulations for O2O food delivery services. The new rules require the restaurants registered on the apps to have offline stores and to be licensed with certifications to run food-related businesses.
On top of that, the authorities stated in the regulations that food providers need to publicize more accurate details about ingredients, cooking process, and containers.
The rules specifically point out that the food delivery companies should make sure the food is not contaminated during the course of delivery and should deal with consumers’ complaints in a timely manner. China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) will reinforce inspection both online and offline.
Meituan-Dianping, one of the major food delivery apps, told local media that the company has started asking the local restaurants to upload relevant certifications onto its system. The company also said that it will cooperate with cleaning companies to run sanitization tests at some of its hottest delivery spots and restaurants that see large delivery demand.
Local media reported that Ele.me, another top player in food delivery, will also take more actions with regards to the new regulations. The company will tighten up the quality of the registered restaurants by implementing a categorizing system for both Ele.me and Baidu Waimai, which was sold to Ele.me last month.