Takeaway food is stolen and eaten maliciously and foreign objects are frequently requested to use seals
How difficult is it to land the takeaway "food safety seal"?
● In recent years, the scale of the takeaway catering market has grown rapidly, especially during the epidemic prevention and control period, the "contactless delivery" food takeaway has been widely praised.
At the same time, it is not uncommon for takeaway food to be eaten by stealth and maliciously adding foreign objects.
● Many places have successively required or advocated the use of "food safety seals", adding a "safety lock" to the "last mile" of takeaway food, but due to increased economic time costs and other reasons, the promotion of "food safety seals" slow progress
● The safety of take-out food involves all aspects. Sealing is only a measure to solve the problem. An online catering platform credit evaluation system should also be established, and the information of untrustworthy merchants should be publicized on the platform to truly play the role of credit supervision.
□ Zhang Shoukun, a trainee reporter of this newspaper
□ Our reporter Chen Lei
At noon on April 16, at the Sino-Ocean International Center in Chaoyang District, Beijing, takeaways delivered one after another and stored them in the pick-up counters. Some of the takeaways were stamped with "food safety seals" by the merchants.
When people who came to pick up the food saw the "sealed" takeaway, they all praised "it's so safe, don't worry about the food being passed over".
This is what a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily saw at the scene 15 days after the implementation of the "Internet Catering Service Catering Safety Management Specification" issued by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation.
According to this management specification, takeaway merchants should use takeaway packaging seals or single-use sealing outer packaging bags and other sealing methods, and the seals and outer packaging bags should not be able to be restored after opening.
In recent years, the scale of the take-out catering market has grown rapidly, especially during the epidemic prevention and control period, the "contactless delivery" food take-out has been widely praised.
At the same time, it is not uncommon for takeaway food to be eaten by stealth and maliciously adding foreign objects.
In order to improve the safety and quality of takeaway catering food, this year, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin, Hebei, Beijing and many other places have successively required or advocated the use of "food safety seals".
What is the current implementation of the "Food Safety Seal" in various places, and what problems still exist in the process of implementation?
Around these issues, the reporter launched an investigation and interview.
Introduce takeaway seals in many places
Usage is not very optimistic
Not long ago, a man in Beijing ordered a hot and sour noodles online. About 20 to 30 minutes later, the deliveryman called to say that the delivery had arrived.
Since the man happened to have something to do, he asked the other party to put the takeaway on the shoe cabinet at the door.
Two or three minutes later, the man discovered that the delivery man was stealing the hot and sour noodles he ordered.
In addition to the stealing of take-out food, some people maliciously add foreign objects to the take-out food.
Ms. Pang from Shanghai placed an order for 3 cups of milk tea on a certain platform a while ago. The bag containing the milk tea was not sealed, but she did not expect to drink a toothpick for each cup.
She checked the milk tea and found that there were small holes in the plastic lid packaging of each cup of milk tea, and she suspected that the rider pierced the plastic packaging and put the toothpick in.
After checking and monitoring, the rider who put the foreign object was identified.
Subsequently, the public security organs intervened in the investigation.
The reporter combed through the public information and found that in recent years, food safety problems have been repeatedly exposed, but whether these problems are caused by the merchants or the riders, the responsibility is often difficult to divide, and the evidence is not easy to confirm.
"If the merchants seal the seal and then hand it over to the rider, the seal cannot be restored after the seal is opened. This is not only a safety protection for take-out food, but also a better division of responsibilities." Vice President of China Law Society Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association Secretary-General Chen Yinjiang said.
Relevant departments in many places have also paid attention to this problem.
Since the beginning of this year, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Anhui and other places have successively issued relevant regulations or issued relevant initiatives, requiring or promoting the use of "food safety seals".
However, the reporter recently interviewed takeaways and consumers in many places and found that most businesses still fail to "seal" their takeaways as required.
There are more than 20 takeaway merchants in a commercial street in Wanda Plaza, Hedong District, Tianjin.
At noon on April 12, the reporter observed at an entrance and exit of the commercial street for 20 minutes and found that more than 300 takeaways were delivered by takeaways, half of which were directly packed in ordinary plastic bags, and the rest were mostly packed in paper bags and bundle pockets, while the use of "food" An Fengxian has less than 10 takeaways.
During the same time period, there were 11 takeaways on the table at the entrance of Building No. 2, Zhubang 2000, Chaoyang District, Beijing, which is more than 100 kilometers away from Tianjin, 9 of which were packed in plastic bags and the other two were packed in paper bags. Use the Food Safety Seal.
The reporter then interviewed 10 riders who delivered food in the community. They can run 20 to 50 orders a day on average.
Three of the riders said they had seen "food safety seals" several times since April, while the rest said "never."
Also, Mr. Di, a resident of Changshu, Jiangsu, who has rarely seen the "Food Safety Seal" also orders takeout 9 to 12 times a week on average, mainly fast food and bento.
According to him, since the Jiangsu Catering Industry Association proposed on March 15 that "food delivery services should use contactless delivery as much as possible, and advocate the use of homemade or customized special 'food safety seals'", the delivery packages he received were not There has been no significant change. "There have always been seals before, and there are still no seals before. Some fast food chains continue to use plastic bags for packaging, not even staples, let alone seals."
Mr. Yang, a resident of Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, noticed that although some businesses used "food safety seals", many times when he received takeaways, the seals had been damaged, especially some poorly packaged takeaways, "such as food packaged in plastic bags. , the seal is often found to be incomplete when receiving the goods."
Increase economic time cost
Merchant's willingness to use is not high
Despite relevant regulations or initiatives, why are many businesses still not using the "Food Safety Seal"?
The reporter interviewed a number of takeaway merchants and found that there are two main reasons for not knowing that a seal must be used and that using a seal will increase the cost.
For example, some merchants suggested, "It has always been packaged in a drawstring bag, and no one told us that it can't be used. It's okay to use a plastic bag in the store next to it." , or it has been stapled with a stapler and knotted tightly, and there is no safety problem during the delivery process, then sticking the seal is unnecessary; some merchants have proposed that the takeaway seal is not used because of cost considerations.
Is the use of the "Food Safety Seal" a prescribed action?
Chen Yinjiang believes that the key is to decide according to the territorial policy.
"If the local regulations stipulate that sealing methods such as seals need to be adopted, then the merchants must implement them according to the regulations. But if the local regulations are only advocacy, the merchants can really decide whether to adopt them according to their own circumstances. In addition, if the merchants have adopted sealing methods Packaging can ensure the safety of take-out food, and there is no need to increase the cost to stick a seal. Otherwise, it will not only be inconsistent with the consumption method advocated by the state to save resources and protect the environment, but also increase unnecessary consumption costs.” Chen Yinjiang said .
Zhu Xiaojuan, director and deputy secretary-general of the Commercial Law Research Association of the China Law Society, believes that some places require food to be sealed, but there is no specific form of seal. Businesses can make simple seals while reducing costs.
The reporter searched on the e-commerce platform and found that the general price of general take-out seals is 10 yuan, 500 pieces, and the average price of one piece is 2 to 5 cents; the price of customized waterproof and oil-proof longer take-out seals is 1. Dime or so.
The average price of common plastic bags with smiling faces is less than 1 cent; better bundled bags, portable takeaway bags, kraft paper bags, and square bottom bags only cost two or three dollars; non-woven takeaway bags are slightly more expensive , the average price starts at 40 cents, but almost no more than 1 yuan.
The reporter also inquired about the take-out platform and found that most take-out merchants will charge a packing fee, ranging from a few cents to a few yuan for a single order; some take-out merchants require customers to choose an item and charge an extra 1 yuan for packing, and a meal is down Packaging costs will be five or six yuan.
In addition, customers' concerns about seals are also one of the reasons why some merchants do not use them.
The reporter interviewed 10 consumers randomly. Some of them were worried about "whether the rider will add a new seal after opening the takeout in violation of regulations", and some thought that "the seal is difficult to open, which will affect the meal" and so on.
"The use of seals will increase the economic cost and operation procedures of takeaway merchants to a certain extent. Some merchants will boycott due to economic and time reasons. In some places, it is only an advocacy clause rather than a mandatory provision, and buyers have no special Pay attention to whether there is a seal, these reasons have led to the slow promotion of the current 'food safety seal'." Zhu Xiaojuan said.
Strengthen publicity and introduce supervision
Promote the landing of food safety seals
A number of industry experts interviewed by reporters pointed out that the use of seals for take-out food can solve the problem of contamination in the process of take-out distribution, and add a "safety lock" to the "last mile" of take-out food. However, due to various reasons, the landing process There are still some obstacles in the process, and it is recommended that relevant departments strengthen the publicity and promotion of "food safety seals", and at the same time introduce supervisory forces, and take necessary penalties for businesses that do not add seals.
"Online catering service catering safety management regulations are mostly local normative documents, which are the performance of implementing higher-level laws such as the Food Safety Law. In the above-mentioned normative documents, it is clearly stipulated that consumers have the right to refuse delivery and riders have the right to deliver without seals. When refusing delivery, it should be based on its regulations; even if there is no clear regulation, because the seal has become a necessary part of the catering service, no seal or damage to the seal means that the service or goods of the takeaway merchant are defective, and consumers should bear the responsibility Corresponding liability for breach of contract, consumers have the right to refuse delivery; riders also have the right to refuse delivery in order to protect their own interests. At the same time, the relevant departments should take administrative measures to order the takeaway sellers to make corrections or even fines in accordance with the food safety law on unqualified packaging. " Zhu Xiaojuan said.
Zhu Xiaojuan believes that in order to promote the use of takeout seals, the government can strengthen supervision, conduct spot checks in advance, and order rectification after proactively discovering problems; handle complaints from consumers in a timely manner and increase administrative enforcement efforts.
The platform should also strengthen internal supervision, formulate relevant rules and systems, and guide merchants on the platform to implement measures for sealing and use.
"From the point of view of merchants, it is necessary to actively realize that the seal is actually a kind of protection for oneself, and if the seal is used well, it can also become the carrier of the brand influence of the takeaway merchant, such as adding its own LOGO , design heart-warming words, etc., can attract consumers and retain repeat customers." Zhu Xiaojuan said.
In Chen Yinjiang's view, the safety of takeaway food involves all aspects, and the seal is only a measure to solve the problem. An online catering platform credit evaluation system should also be established, the information of dishonest merchants should be publicized on the platform, and the credit records and business license information should be shared. Associated with personal ID card information, even if the merchant changes the "vest" and reopens the business, the previous credit record can be displayed in a prominent position, so as to truly play the role of credit supervision.
For merchants suspected of illegal acts, concentrated consumer complaints or bad credit records, measures such as adjusting search rankings and temporarily or permanently suspending the provision of platform services may also be taken.