Are the homemade food and drugs popular on the Internet safe?
Many businesses do not have production and operation qualifications.
● In recent years, homemade food and drugs have become popular on the Internet, ranging from pickles, bacon, fermented bean curd to fruit wine, biscuits and cakes, to weight loss enzymes, tablet candies, and traditional Chinese medicine tea drinks. "The "handmade" label is favored by many consumers.
However, at the same time, problems such as the lack of production and operation qualifications and the lack of relevant labels have also been frequently exposed.
● Whether online food operators need relevant qualifications depends on the type of food they sell.
If the sale of processed agricultural products, homemade food, such as homemade canned fruit, cakes, etc., online food operators must have the "Food Production License", "Food Circulation License", "Food Business License" and other production and business food Qualification license
● Platforms and online food operators should engage in production and business activities in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and food safety standards, be honest and self-disciplined, ensure food safety, assume social responsibilities, and accept the supervision of the public
□ Our reporter Han Dandong
□ Our intern Wang Yitian
6,000 copies were sold and 2,000 comments were made. This is the performance of a homemade Inner Mongolia-style mutton sausage shop on a shopping platform.
However, the reporter of the "Rules of Law Daily" could not find the food production license, food business license, business license and other information on the product details page.
Although it sells Inner Mongolia-style mutton sausage and belly-wrapped meat, the place of delivery is Shangqiu, Henan.
The customer service staff explained that the goods are purchased from Inner Mongolia and then processed and sold by the factory in Henan.
As for whether the relevant business license has been handled, the other party answered "I don't know".
Some consumers commented that "100% is not mutton sausage".
In recent years, homemade food and drugs have become popular on the Internet, ranging from pickles, bacon, and fermented bean curd to fruit wine, biscuits and cakes, to weight loss enzymes, tablet candies, and traditional Chinese medicine tea drinks. The "handmade" label is favored by many consumers.
But at the same time, problems such as the lack of production and operation qualifications and the lack of relevant labels have also been frequently exposed.
Are these homemade food and medicines sold on the Internet really safe?
Homemade food sells well
The business lacks business qualifications
The reporter randomly searched for a "purple potato taro cake" produced and shipped from Fujian on a shopping platform, and found that the business qualifications announced by the store only showed the "food business record notification letter issued by the local market supervision department". ”, and clearly does not include network operations.
But as of noon on April 12, the shop had sold 63,000 pieces of purple potato taro cake on the Internet, with more than 9,000 product reviews, most of which were positive reviews.
In another shop selling "homemade farmhouse stinky bean curd" and "homemade dried salted stinky beans", the reporter noticed that the stinky bean curd was packed in a plastic bottle with a label on the bottle, including the ingredient list, shelf life, production date , the registration certificate number, there is no implementation standard, and the sales of this stinky fermented bean curd have exceeded 10,000.
In addition, the old salted beans, pork head meat, pickles and other foods sold by the store only have the registration certificate number, and there is no implementation standard and other information.
According to the provisions of my country's Food Safety Law, the packaging of prepackaged food should have a label, and the label should indicate the name, specification, net content, production date; ingredient or ingredient list; producer's name, address, contact information; shelf life; product standards Code; storage conditions; common names of food additives used in national standards; production license number and other information.
The reporter's investigation found that although some homemade food stores put labels on the packaging and the relevant information was indicated on the labels, their production licenses were false.
Mr. Wang, who lives in Shenzhen, Guangdong, bought a handmade beef jerky for 374 yuan on an e-commerce platform not long ago.
After receiving the goods, as soon as he opened the package, he smelled a pungent smell, and the meat had deteriorated.
He carefully checked the label and found that although the production date, shelf life, production address, manufacturer and other information were marked, when he entered the production license number into the relevant query system, he found that the number was not in the system, and even the store name was It is fictitious by the merchant.
Subsequently, Mr. Wang complained to the e-commerce platform and applied for a refund.
Zhu Yi, an associate professor at China Agricultural University, pointed out that some merchants are making a point of saying that they sell homemade food, but they are not in the food category. They have been suspected of using non-food raw materials to produce food.
health products diet pills hot sale
Merchant claims to be tailor-made
In addition to food, some homemade health products and diet pills are also very popular on the Internet.
The reporter found a popular weight-loss food on a shopping platform, enzyme plum. The promotional page of this enzyme plum reads, "Eat one at night, it will be smooth in the morning" and "one will work", and attached The comparison chart before and after losing weight, this product has sold 100,000+, with thousands of comments.
However, the reporter checked the packaging information and found that there was only "enzyme plum" marked in Chinese and English on the small packaging bag of each plum, and there was neither a production batch number nor a manufacturer.
The customer service staff explained that this is a plum made by the manufacturer. The manufacturer's address is in Jieyang, Guangdong, and it is shipped from Xinyang, Henan.
The reporter inquired about the store's qualifications and business certificates and found that the address of the department store displayed by the store's "food business license" information was in Qingdao, Shandong.
For a small enzyme plum, the place of business license, the place of delivery and the place of production are displayed in three places across the country.
On the e-commerce platform, there are also some shops with the name "Traditional Chinese Medicine to lose weight". They claim that they can prepare their own prescriptions, "you can easily lose weight without exercising and dieting", and the unit price ranges from 100 to 500 yuan.
However, the reporter consulted 3 stores and found that none of them had business licenses, and the ingredients contained in the weight loss prescriptions prepared by each store were not significantly different. Some were packaged in kraft paper or plastic bags, but the product information was not marked on the packaging.
"How are your eating habits? Are you feeling sick?" The opening remarks of the customer service staff in the two stores were exactly the same.
No matter how the reporter answered, the other party said that he could prescribe weight loss medicine, and claimed that he could lose 20 pounds in two months.
There is also a store that promises to lose less than 10 pounds in two months, and refund 35 yuan for one kilogram. The sales of this store have now exceeded 10,000.
The reporter consulted one of the stores on the business license issue.
Regarding the issue of prescriptions, one store said that "it is a prescription prescribed by a private master, and it is customized", and another store said that "the weight loss method used is passed down from the older generation", but the reporter carefully compared the prescriptions they provided and found that Basically the same.
The comment section of these 3 stores is also very lively.
Some netizens posted pictures and commented that "I lost 20 pounds in one day, and the traditional Chinese medicine conditioning is very effective", and some netizens said, "I have drank traditional Chinese medicine for weight loss for 4 consecutive days, and I have abdominal distension from the first day, and my stomach is hard and hard on the fourth day. bloated, woke up at 5 in the morning with a tumultuous stomach and kept vomiting."
"The health care products and medicines made by yourself cannot be sold. They must apply for a production license, obtain relevant qualifications, and apply for a business license before they can be sold. Merchants need to go to the market supervision bureau to apply for a business license, then submit it to the e-commerce platform, and then pay Only relevant industry deposits can be sold." Zhu Yi said.
The platform strengthens auditing efforts
Food and drug safety should not be underestimated
It is worth noting that the current Chinese law stipulates that personal sales of self-produced agricultural and sideline products do not need to be registered.
Some people selling homemade food on the Internet expressed their doubts to the reporter: Which ones can be identified as self-produced agricultural and sideline products and do not need to be registered, and which ones should be identified as homemade products and must be registered?
The interviewed experts explained that: self-produced agricultural and sideline products, namely rice, noodles, fresh meat, etc., do not need to be registered when they are sold on the Internet; as long as the agricultural and sideline products are processed, such as pickling, they must be sold online. Obtain relevant permission.
"Whether online food operators need relevant qualifications depends on the type of food they sell. If they sell processed agricultural products, homemade food, such as homemade canned fruit, cakes, etc., online food operators must have the "Food Production" License, Food Circulation License, Food Business License, and other qualification licenses for the production and operation of food.” said Deng Liqiang, deputy director of Beijing Huawei Law Firm.
Regarding the supervision of online food sales, Sun Juanjuan, a researcher at the Food Safety Governance Collaborative Innovation Center of Renmin University of China, believes that my country's relevant laws and regulations have been perfected. The obligation requirements and supervision and management system of network operators and platforms have been formulated.
Therefore, if there are food production and operation license requirements offline, the platform needs to conduct qualification review and publicize such information.
As far as homemade food is concerned, it may be behind the sale of edible agricultural products, processed food originating from small-scale businesses such as workshops.
As a producer and operator, when choosing online sales, it is necessary to further confirm the relevant network operation requirements in combination with local supervision.
From the platform side, what responsibilities should be assumed for these self-made food and drugs with high sales?
According to my country's Food Safety Law, the provider of a third-party platform for online food trading shall conduct real-name registration of online food operators and clarify their responsibilities for food safety management; if a license should be obtained in accordance with the law, its license should also be reviewed.
If the provider of a third-party platform for online food trading finds that the online food business operator has violated the provisions of this law, it shall promptly stop it and report it to the food safety supervision and administration department of the people's government at the county level; if it finds serious violations, it shall immediately stop providing online trading Platform Services.
"Strengthening the responsibility of the platform is an important starting point to supervise the safety of online food." Sun Juanjuan said that from the perspective of self-regulation, the platform needs to establish a management system in accordance with the law, including collecting and identifying legally required information, establishing dispute mediation, consumer rights protection, etc. Mechanisms are in place to notify regulatory authorities of illegal information in a timely manner, and to cooperate with law enforcement inspections.
If the platform fails to perform its statutory qualification review and other obligations, it will be punished accordingly to urge it to fulfill its statutory obligations.
"Platforms and online food operators should engage in production and business activities in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and food safety standards, be honest and self-disciplined, ensure food safety, assume social responsibilities, and accept the supervision of the public." Deng Liqiang said that food safety issues It should not be underestimated. Laws and relevant judicial interpretations have clarified the responsibilities of third-party platforms and operators of online food transactions through various forms of joint responsibility, strengthened the responsibilities of food producers and operators, and increased the protection of consumers' legitimate rights and interests. .
Deng Liqiang reminded that consumers whose rights and interests are damaged when purchasing homemade food and drugs can claim compensation from online food operators or food producers in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Food Safety Law.
If the third-party platform for online food trading cannot provide the real name, address and valid contact information of the online food operator, the third-party platform will make compensation first, and then the third-party platform will seek compensation from the food operator.
Comics/Li Xiaojun