Safe food delivery gets seal of approval

Some three million orders of food are delivered every day in Shanghai. From the kitchen to packaging, and then through couriers to thousands of households, the more steps involved, the more difficult it is to ensure transparency of food safety.

Food safety seals, which are believed to reduce risks to food safety and serve as one of the bases for defining responsibilities, are now accompanying takeout meals to thousands of homes.

Shanghai is now widely promoting the use of food safety seals on take-away and delivered food. It has stepped out efforts to raise public awareness of the stickers to curb disputes and ensure food safety, the city's market regulators revealed on Friday.

Instead of tough measures, a soft approach is being taken by authorities towards the mass application of stickers.

Large quantity of food safety seals, free of charge, are being distributed by the city's market watchdogs to catering businesses, while authorities have teamed up with major food delivery platforms.

Restaurants have been encouraged to design innovative seals.

On Friday, the first of its kind pop-up activity to raise public awareness of the stickers was launched at Jing'an Joy City.

During the event lasting through January 3, visitors can participate in various interactive activities and DIY creative food safety seals.

The development of the food delivery industry has boomed in recent years. In 2023, the number of instant delivery orders in China reached 42 billion, with the delivery user scale exceeding 700 million.

In Shanghai, there are currently nearly 60,000 catering businesses engaged in online catering delivery, accounting for 60 percent of the total number of catering service providers in the city, according to the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation.

Among these, more than 80 percent are small and medium-sized businesses, with nearly three million catering delivery orders generated daily.

"While food delivery brings convenient dining services and a variety of food choices to consumers, it also triggers widespread concern among the public about food safety," said Zhang Luxia, an official with the food safety coordination department of the administration.

The design of the sticker means it can only be used once, lessening the possibility of food being polluted during delivery, the administration said. It also makes the responsibility of eateries and delivery staff clear if food is found to be contaminated.

"I think it is important that delivered meals bear the sticker as it is a sign of hygiene, and consumers will feel reassured once the food is well sealed," said Li Yan, a Shanghai consumer.

The practice has also sparked discussions about whether the use of food safety seals for takeout should be legislated.

Some scholars believe that only mandatory regulations can drive the initiative, while others oppose the idea, arguing that if there is a problem with the meal after it leaves the restaurant, the restaurant should not be held responsible.

Currently, the use of food safety seals is merely an action encouraged by regulatory authorities.

In the absence of mandatory regulations, only by showing operators the benefits of persistent use can this practice be successfully implemented.

"We have been coordinating with major food delivery platforms such as Ele.me and Meituan to show the seal in the ordering pages and even give restaurants willing to use the sticker more exposure on their platforms as encouragement," said Zhang.

"In fact, we found that catering operators have shown a strong willingness in using the seal under combined incentives."

Food delivery staff should check the seal when collecting the food from eateries to ensure the sticker is effective, officials said.

Consumers should also check, in the presence of delivery staff, and are entitled to demand a refund if the seal is broken, they said.

"The number of customers dining in at our restaurant accounts for about 70 percent of the total," said Dao Shaoming, director of an outlet of Sue Hsiao Liu.

"Many customers feel that a 'face-to-face' dining experience provides a sense of security. Online takeout orders are not transparent, which may cause anxiety for some customers," said Dao.

"With the implementation of food safety seals, in case of disputes arising from issues such as foreign objects in the food or missing items, it will be easier to clarify the situation afterward," he added.

There used to be frequent reports on food safety issues during delivery process. A deliveryman was suspended for spitting into a meal and insulting the woman who had ordered it.

In a video posted online, the man is seen spitting in the food and complaining because the woman had refused to come downstairs to pick it up.

In another case, a Meituan Dianping deliveryman was captured on an elevator camera opening a meal, eating some of it and then spitting it back in the container before delivery. He was fired.

"Since the trial of the seal started in 2019, it is increasingly accepted by catering businesses and the number of relevant disputes in delivery process has been almost cut to zero, which has relieved our working pressure," said Yang Zhongwei, a supervision director of the Beizhan branch of the Jing'an District Administration for Market Regulation.

"For delivery workers, it is a good way to clarify responsibility and a kind of protection as well, thus I tend to check the seal once I picked meals and hope more restaurants will use the sticker," said a food delivery worker Li Mingyong of Ele.me.

Shanghai's market supervision departments are also exploring more public welfare uses for food safety seals.

For example, by carrying enterprise codes, consumers can scan the QR code upon receiving takeout to check the business licence, food operation permit, records of business anomalies, or administrative penalty records of the takeout merchant.

Compared to previous versions of food safety seals, this makes the information of takeout food more transparent.