Strengthening Oversight of Live Streaming Commerce Chaos, Network Food Safety Compliance and Quality Improvement Series Actions Launched

To further strengthen the primary responsibilities of online food trading platforms and their operators, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced on the 16th that it will immediately launch a series of actions to improve compliance and quality in online food safety.

The series of actions will focus on addressing three major issues strongly reflected by consumers: First, strictly regulate chaotic live-streaming sales, urging live-streaming platforms, rooms, and hosts to strictly implement the “Supervision and Management Regulations on Food Safety Responsibilities for Live E-commerce Operators” which took effect on March 20, clarify responsibilities, enforce the sales ban list, and prevent misleading marketing language. Second, rigorously examine the qualifications of online food products, urging platforms to strictly perform substantive reviews to prevent foods from being listed or sold without proper food production and operation permits, or using false or impersonated qualifications. Third, severely punish false advertising behaviors, urging online food operators to truthfully display information such as origin, ingredients, and functions of foods, and prevent the use of inappropriate language related to disease prevention or treatment to deceive consumers.

It is reported that during the campaign, special rectification will be carried out on prominent issues such as live-streaming food sales, online food sales, health foods, and influencer foods. Enforcement efforts will be increased against counterfeit, substandard, and misrepresented foods, and online trading platforms will be encouraged to jointly sign self-discipline agreements to strengthen cross-regional and online-offline coordinated supervision. (Xinhua News Agency)