The core reading of the "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of the Implementation of Main Responsibility for Food Safety by Online Catering Service Operators" aims to build a comprehensive and multi-level governance system through the three strategies of "source rectification, clean flow, and solid foundation", effectively eradicating the breeding ground of "ghost takeout", and transforming takeout merchants from "paper compliance" to "visible reality". Ghost takeout has always been a pain point for food safety in online catering services. In order to provide consumers with safe and healthy takeaway food, the State Administration for Market Regulation has formulated the "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"). The Regulation will be officially implemented from June 1st. At a recent press conference held by the State Administration for Market Regulation, Sun Huichuan, Director of Food Safety at the State Administration for Market Regulation, stated that the "Regulations" have made a series of institutional designs from three core dimensions: business identity, business model, and processing process. By clarifying the information disclosure obligations of platform providers and online catering service providers, a full chain and visualized information disclosure system has been constructed, allowing consumers to "click clearly and eat with confidence". Building a comprehensive governance system In recent years, the online catering industry has developed rapidly, and "ordering takeout" has become one of the daily dining consumption methods for the public. According to the annual report data 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. Ordering takeout is simple, but sometimes it's not as easy as ordering "safe takeout" or "quality takeout". According to market regulatory authorities, some food delivery merchants provide fake addresses, some upload fake photos, and some even have fake qualifications. These phenomena are jokingly described by the public as "ghost food delivery". Some food delivery platforms focus solely on monopolizing the market, closing their eyes to review and blindly tolerating untrustworthy merchants and problematic food delivery, disregarding the platform's responsibility and food safety. Yu Lu, Director of the Catering and Food Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, stated that the existence of "ghost takeout" has seriously disrupted the normal market order of the takeout industry and also hurt people's confidence in the safety of catering and food. Therefore, in order to rectify the phenomenon of "ghost food delivery", it is necessary to trace its origins and establish a systematic governance system. The Regulation aims to 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 eradicating the breeding ground of "ghost food delivery", and transforming food delivery merchants from "paper compliance" to "visible reality". The source of 'substantive examination'. 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. Clean up with "qualification verification". 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". Consolidate the foundation through 'dynamic verification'. The Regulation 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 matches 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. As a pain point for food safety in online catering services, "ghost takeout" is essentially an illegal operator without qualifications or fixed locations who disguises themselves as legitimate businesses through methods such as qualification fraud and address fabrication. The key to safe food delivery is to "get what you order". Whether it is merchant business information or dish related information, only authenticity and reliability can make consumers feel at ease. In response to the prominent problems of information opacity and asymmetry in online food delivery, the "Regulations" have put forward "four killer moves": the first move is to standardize information disclosure, so that "store information" is no longer difficult to distinguish between true and false. The Regulation specifies that the name of a food delivery online store must be consistent with the name of the physical business storefront sign; It is necessary to continuously display core information such as business qualifications, photos of physical business storefronts, and actual business addresses in a prominent position on the main page, or set clear information link labels. To solve the problem of "fake addresses", it is necessary to clarify that the actual business address must be consistent with the business premises stated on the business qualification certificate. Second move: Add special signs to make "dine in" no longer secretive. The Regulation specifies that food delivery merchants who specialize in food delivery services and do not provide dine in services must prominently display the "No dine in" sign on their main page, and the food delivery platform must synchronously display this sign on the merchant list page. In this way, consumers can clearly know whether there is dine in service in the business model of the merchant before placing an order, and make rational choices based on their own needs and safety expectations for catering services. The third trick: Promote visual publicity to eliminate the confusion of the "processing process". The Regulations have established a publicity system of "Internet plus+Bright Kitchen", and advocated takeaway merchants to disclose the food processing and production process to the public through "Internet plus+Bright Kitchen" and other means. Require food delivery platforms to display relevant identification on the list page of registered catering service providers, making it clear to consumers at a glance. Fourth move: Strengthen platform technical support to make "information disclosure" no longer optional. The Regulation requires food delivery platforms to provide necessary technical support for food delivery merchants to fulfill their information disclosure obligations, ensure that relevant information can be displayed clearly, stably, and conveniently to consumers, and shall not set technical barriers or intentionally hide information; Timely deal with food delivery merchants who fail to disclose information in accordance with regulations, or disclose false or inaccurate information. Building a solid data foundation for collaborative management between government and enterprises. Network catering services have cross regional operational characteristics, which pose challenges to law enforcement collaboration. What innovative arrangements does the Regulation have to address cross regional regulatory challenges? The residence of food delivery platforms and the business and consumption locations of food delivery merchants often belong to different regions, and the cross regional and virtualized characteristics of online catering services have indeed brought considerable challenges to traditional regulatory models. ”Yu Lu introduced that the "Regulations" are based on the actual supervision of online catering, closely focusing on the core pain points of cross regional operation, and making a series of innovative institutional arrangements in terms of regulatory authority division, law enforcement coordination mechanism, and information sharing support. Clarify the division of cross regional regulatory authority and solve the problem of "who is in charge" of rights and responsibilities. On the basis of the principle of territorial jurisdiction, the Regulation innovatively introduces the jurisdiction of the provincial-level market supervision department where the illegal act occurred. This "jurisdiction based on the domicile, supplemented by the provincial-level jurisdiction where the illegal act occurred" power division model not only follows the basic principle of "who registers, who supervises", ensuring the continuity of the platform's main responsibility supervision, but also endows the provincial-level market supervision department where the illegal act occurred with direct jurisdiction, effectively solving the problem of "jurisdiction disputes" in cross regional supervision. Establish an information reporting and sharing mechanism to build a solid data foundation for government enterprise "collaborative management". The Regulations focus on the key obstacle of information asymmetry, by clarifying the obligation of information reporting and regulating the responsibility of information provision, and building an "information bridge" for cross regional supervision. On the one hand, platform providers are required to submit their business qualifications and identity information of catering service providers within their administrative regions to the provincial market supervision departments in January and July each year, so that the provincial market supervision departments can comprehensively grasp the basic information of catering service providers in their respective regions. On the other hand, the "Regulations" address the common problem of "difficulty in obtaining evidence and slow verification" in cross regional case investigations. It clarifies that market regulatory authorities may require platform providers and networked catering service providers to provide relevant electronic data, technical monitoring records, and other information in law enforcement activities such as supervision and inspection, sampling and monitoring, and case investigation. Relevant parties must cooperate to ensure that cross regional market regulatory departments can quickly obtain the necessary evidence materials for case investigations, greatly improving cross regional law enforcement efficiency. Improve the cross regional law enforcement collaboration mechanism and connect the key links of "joint management" in law enforcement. The Regulation establishes a full chain and closed-loop law enforcement coordination mechanism, requiring local market supervision departments at or above the county level to strengthen cross regional supervision and law enforcement cooperation, and to carry out clue notification, investigation and evidence collection, and problem disposal in accordance with relevant regulations for food safety incidents involving multiple locations in online catering services. Realize a closed-loop system for discovering, reporting, handling, and providing feedback on illegal activities, ensuring timely and effective investigation and punishment regardless of where the illegal activities occur. (New Society)