As a new type of food service business, takeaway has been favored by many people in recent years for its fast, affordable and trendy characteristics, and the market potential is huge. However, a reporter’s investigation found that behind the takeaway craze, there are many hidden dangers in health, environment and safety, and it is urgent for multiple departments to work together to manage the "lunch box".
According to data released by Meituan Review Data Research Institute, as of June 2016, there were 150 million takeaway users in China. Takeaway APP is very popular among people under the age of 35 and people in first- and second-tier cities. From the perspective of consumer price, more than 70% of users are between 20 yuan and 50 yuan.
Luo Jing, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Guangxi Normal University, believes that the consumption potential of takeaway platforms reaches hundreds of billions of yuan, and various related derivative platforms can drive up to trillions of yuan in consumption in the next 5 to 10 years.
The reporter interviewed and found that behind the huge market potential, there are many problems that require urgent attention.
Excessive oil and salt. Li Zhijie, deputy secretary general of the Guangxi Dietitian Association, told reporters that most of the popular takeaway foods are high-oil, high-salt, and high-sugar foods. Eating too much can easily lead to obesity.
The source of the ingredients is unknown. Recently, the Nanning Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce and the Food Hygiene Supervision Department conducted a random inspection of a farmers’ market. A staff member said that a truck of rice, about 5 tons, was seized that day, and it was all going to the delivery platform catering company, which means that some delivery companies are using rice of unknown origin.
Contamination caused by lunch boxes. Tang Zhongyuan, a doctor at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, said that using unqualified disposable lunch boxes to hold food with high temperature will release harmful substances. After the food enters the human body, it may cause indigestion, local pain and liver and kidney system diseases.
There are blind spots in disinfection. Unannounced interviews revealed that many of the boxes had never been disinfected. In a small fast-food catering establishment, the boxes were not only not stored in a special place, but also placed with mops, rags, etc. "The boxes cannot be disinfected. If they are dirty, just wipe them with a tissue or a rag, and they cannot be seen from the outside," said a staff member of the delivery platform.
Takeaway cars have become "killer cars". Chen Tie, director of the office of Nanning College, said: "According to our investigation, takeaway electric vehicles have become the biggest safety hazard on campus when they are retrograde in crowded areas, walk on sidewalks or even blind roads, but even if there is an accident, it is difficult for us to hold them accountable." Sun Zhiyu, director of the Nanning DMV, said that electric vehicles in remote suburbs have not been registered with real names, and they do face difficulties in dealing with accidents.
Consumers are deprived of their right to know. Fu Deshen, a scholar at Guilin University of Tourism, said that in order to get reviews and strive for the top position in sales, catering companies pay ranking fees to the platform to seek customer attraction. In fact, takeaway platforms abuse their right to control information and deprive consumers of their right to know.
In addition, the results of the experiential survey released by the China Consumers Association show that online takeaway ordering still does not meet health and safety requirements, merchants operate without licenses, platforms do not have order cancellation options, and do not actively provide regular invoices.
Multi-party collaboration to manage takeaway chaos
In response to the chaos in the industry, recently, the Beijing Food and Drug Administration has dealt with some unlicensed stores on online ordering platforms, involving a total of 225 stores. Among them, 96 are on the Ele.me platform, 71 are Meituan takeout, and 58 are Baidu takeout.
Many experts said that eliminating the hidden dangers of takeaway needs to be done in many ways. Luo Jing believes that takeaway under the vision of "Internet +" involves multiple departments such as industry and information technology, food and medicine, health, industry and commerce, and it is easy to cause unclear regulatory boundaries. In the current situation where laws and regulations are not perfect, various regulatory departments should establish a coordination mechanism to improve the effectiveness of supervision. She suggested that from access to food delivery, the takeaway industry should have a complete set of quality systems and industry standards, tighten the review gate, and filter black stores from the source.
"It is necessary to strictly control the entrance and export of food ingredients." Ji Kunfeng, a senior lawyer at Yongwei Law Firm in Liuzhou, Guangxi, believes that after the amendment of the food safety law is released, the third-party trading platform providers of online food ordering should strictly implement the real-name registration of the entity units applying for online catering services, strengthen the verification of business licenses, food business licenses and processing and production sites, and shall not provide platform services for those who do not meet the requirements. Urge the entity units of online catering services to process and produce food in strict accordance with the operation specifications of catering services, and shall not entrust it to unlicensed and unlicensed black workshops.
Catch typical and heavy penalties, clarify high-voltage lines, and prevent "brick and mortar stores from being cleaned up and takeaway platforms from being incorporated." Some merchants evade supervision by means of fake tricks. For the problems of replacing the license with real pictures of the store, deceiving consumers with vague certificates, expiring licenses are still business as usual, "ghost restaurants" whose actual address does not match the publicized address, and operating beyond the scope must be further strengthened.
Ji Kunfeng believes that some food ordering platforms that are still in a state of horse racing are not willing to govern and are unwilling to pay the cost for qualification review and management, which is the main reason why it is difficult to cure the hidden dangers of takeaway. "We should crack down on a number of illegal takeaway platforms in a short period of time, and let such companies pay a heavy price to make an example of others, so as to promote the industry’s integrity and healthy development." (Half Moon Talk Reporter, He Fenglun)
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