Three of China’s most popular online food delivery platforms—Baidu Waimai, Meituan Waimai, and Ele.me—have each launched their own investigation in Beijing against unqualified food vendors, hoping to crackdown on food safety violations in the city, according to Xinhua.
Each platform has dropped thousands of takeaway shops from their platform. As of May 12, 4,413 vendors had been blacklisted and taken down from Baidu Waimai, 7,247 vendors from Meituan Waimai, and 7,926 from Ele.me. All three food delivery apps said they will continue to update the list of vendors, which are available online.
Food delivery is a burgeoning market in China. According to the Beijing Food and Drug Administration, Beijing alone receives more than 1.8 million delivery orders per day. Food apps are facing scrutiny due to rising concerns about food safety and illegal vendors. The Beijing FDA has uncovered over 20,000 illegal food vendors since the “Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Safety in Online Catering Services” came into effect in January, and has put pressure on food delivery services to take the necessary measures to keep the number in check.