CCTV News:Stay at home, delicious food is delivered to your door, and Internet take-out has won the recognition of many consumers for its convenience. However, in recent years, complaints about online take-out published by consumer protection organizations in many places have remained high.
Not long ago, Mr. Qi’s younger brother in Shenzhen experienced obvious discomfort after drinking milk tea purchased through the Meituan takeaway platform.
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Mr. Qi’s younger brother: "When I drank that milk smell, I just felt the smell of milk that had been left for a long time. Then I went to the hospital that night, and then the hospital doctor diagnosed it as acute gastroenteritis and lost intravenous drip all night."
Just when Mr. Qi decided to file a complaint with the local consumer protection organization to defend his rights, he found that the company named Huangcha (Longhua Head Office) could not be searched on the Meituan takeaway platform. Mr. Qi complained about his experience to the Shenzhen Consumer Protection Committee. The staff of the Shenzhen Consumer Council immediately launched an investigation and found that the name of Huangcha (Longhua Head Office), where Mr. Qi bought milk tea before, had indeed changed its name, and the business license and food business license that merchants should publicize were not found on the page of the Meituan takeaway platform.
The investigator of Shenzhen Consumer Council found the renamed store according to the business address provided on the merchant’s website. After checking the business qualification of this merchant, the investigator found that the business scope marked on the food business license held by this store is: the manufacture and sale of hot food, that is to say, this store does not have the qualification to manufacture and sell homemade drinks.
In the subsequent investigation, the reporter found that Mr. Qi’s experience was not a case.
From January 1, 2017 to May 31, 2018, Shenzhen Consumer Protection Committee received 164 complaints from consumers about take-away services on third-party platforms of online catering services, and complaints about food safety issues accounted for one quarter. The complaints from the third-party service platforms of online catering, Meituan Takeaway and Hungry, accounted for 94.51% of the total complaints.
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Li Xiaoyong, Director of Consumer Market Supervision Department of Shenzhen Consumer Council: "In May this year, Shenzhen Consumer Council conducted a survey on the food safety of online catering services in the city. Then, among the 1,050 valid questionnaires, we saw that 50% of consumers had encountered food safety problems. To this end, we launched the social supervision of online catering services in Shenzhen. "
According to the survey results of Shenzhen Consumer Protection Committee, among the 35 hungry platform merchants and 35 Meituan takeaway platform merchants surveyed, 5 stores were unable to provide food business licenses, and the actual business addresses of 4 food service providers did not match the license addresses, and 22 stores were out of scope.
In view of this situation, the Shenzhen Consumer Council conducted an interview with the US delegation and the Hungry Takeaway Platform. Hungry and Meituan Takeaway said that the problem merchants in the sample survey have been offline, and the platform merchants’ qualification review and regular shop inspection reporting mechanism have been improved.
[Tracking] After the interview in January, there are still businesses operating beyond the scope.
According to the statements of these two take-away platforms, the compliance problem of online catering platforms should be greatly improved. At least businesses that have found problems should go offline for processing, or rectify in place before continuing to operate. After the interview for more than half a month, the reporter conducted an investigation on online catering services in many places and found that this is not the case.
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In the survey, the reporter found that in a sushi restaurant with a monthly sales volume of more than 700 copies on the Meituan takeaway platform, the pictures of sashimi and other dishes displayed by the merchants looked very fresh and attractive, but in the evaluation, users sometimes reported that the dishes were not fresh. The reporter learned that not long ago, this store was just told by the local Consumer Council that it was out of scope because it did not have a permit for raw food. When the reporter investigated, there was no license information in the business file. In order to further understand the situation, the reporter found this sushi restaurant according to the business address provided by the merchant. The reporter noticed that there was no license information posted in this store.
Article 4 of the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Safety in Online Catering Services stipulates that catering service providers who access the Internet shall have physical stores and obtain food business licenses according to law, and engage in business activities in accordance with the main formats and business projects specified in the food business licenses, and shall not operate beyond the scope. That is to say, this sushi restaurant is still operating raw food beyond the scope without the corresponding food business license and the license information as required. For this phenomenon, the reporter called the Meituan takeaway platform to understand the situation.
Reporter:I see that on your platform, some merchants only show their business licenses, but their homes don’t even show their business licenses. What is the reason for this?
Meituan takeaway platform merchant service hotline:There are two reasons for this. One reason is that our merchants don’t have these two qualifications, and the other reason is that the merchants haven’t uploaded them to the client, so we can’t search them.
Meituan finally admitted that Meituan platform merchants may not have business licenses and food business licenses. The practice of Meituan is not a case in the online catering service industry.
In the supervision and investigation of Shenzhen Consumer Council in May, 35 merchants were randomly selected on the hungry take-away platform, of which 4 did not have a food business license, 11 operated beyond the scope, and 16 did not publicize or update the license. Therefore, the reporter called the hungry takeaway platform to understand the situation.
Hungry platform merchant service hotline: The conditions for our store to go online are that it needs a business license, a food business license and a physical storefront. None of the three can go online.
Reporter:What if it’s not made public? As a consumer, why can’t I see his food business license?
Hungry? Platform merchant service hotline:Due to technical reasons, the boss’s license could not be synchronized to the platform of Hungry.
Reporter:That’s why you are hungry, isn’t it? You didn’t make it public?
Hungry? Platform merchant service hotline:Whether this shows or not has little effect or influence.
Reporter:Why not?
Hungry? Platform merchant service hotline:Does not affect the normal business of the store.
On the one hand, it claims that the license must be complete, on the other hand, it tells the platform that whether the license is displayed or not will not affect the normal business of the store. The attitude of the online catering platform has attracted the attention of all parties. The Consumer Council of Shenzhen said that it will continue to carry out social supervision and disclosure of the take-away platform, and start with the construction of integrity to ensure the food safety of the citizens.
According to the data released by China Internet Network Information Center, as of December 2017, the number of online take-out users in China has reached 343 million, and it has maintained a sustained high-speed growth. Online take-out has not only become one of the normal dining methods of netizens, but also accounts for an increasing proportion in the catering industry in the whole society. Whether online take-out can be operated in good faith has become a new problem that cannot be ignored.
[Short Comment] It is related to consumers’ health and integrity management.
On the one hand, you can’t go to the online take-out platform without a license, on the other hand, there are businesses with incomplete licenses in normal business; On the one hand, it is said that business licenses, food business licenses and physical storefronts are indispensable. On the other hand, it is told that the non-disclosure of these information will not affect the store operation on the take-away platform, so how can consumers believe in the honest operation of the take-away platform? Food safety is directly related to the health of consumers, and it is particularly important for related enterprises to "know, use and keep promises".