The Administrative Measures for the Supervision of Food Safety in Online Catering Services was promulgated in 2018 and amended in 2020 respectively. The latest revision entered into force on November 3, 2020.

There are 46 articles in total, which aim to supervise online catering services. The key points are as follows:

1.Online catering services refer to the catering services provided through the Internet by the third-party platform provider of online catering services, as well as the catering service providers (collectively “the service provider”) who provide catering services through third-party platforms and self-built websites. (Article 2)

2.The State Administration for Market Regulation and its local government counterparts are the regulatory authorities in this field. (Article 3)

3.Online catering service providers should have physical stores and obtain food business licenses. (Article 4)

4.Online catering service third-party platform providers should file with the local market supervision bureau. (Article 5)

5.Online catering service third-party platform providers shall perform the following obligations: (1) The platform shall review and register online catering service providers; (2) If the online catering service provider violates food safety laws, the platform shall stop the illegal activity, and report to the regulatory authority; (3) If the online catering service provider seriously violates the law, the platform should stop serving it; (4) The platform should effectively handle food safety incidents. (Article 6)

6.Online catering service providers shall publish the names of dishes and main ingredients on the Internet. (Article 11)

7.Online catering service third-party platform providers and self-built website catering service providers shall record the order information, including the name of the food, the time of ordering, the person who delivered the food, the time of delivery, and the delivery address. This information should be kept for at least 6 months. (Article 15)