Unsavory state of online food delivery sector

Food delivery motorcyclists from ele.me on the streets in Beijing. [Photo/China Daily]

AN INSPECTION by the authorities in South China's Guangdong province on Wednesday found the hygiene situation of restaurants in a number of online delivery service platforms is worrying. Beijing News commented on Thursday:

It seems the situation discovered by the investigators is still the same as it was last year, when it was first exposed by the media. Even small unhygienic food providers using the addresses of public toilets or parking lots can go through the approval process smoothly and successfully as long as they pay an agent a small fee.

From data recently published about a one-week check on more than 1 million food delivery businesses, 5,257 businesses were found to be illegal and closed down.

Obviously, the discovery was only the tip of the iceberg and the actual situation is probably more serious. It is necessary to carry out comprehensive remedial actions to clean up the industry.

In addition, the online platforms need to increase their supervision and punishment of enterprises, and the relevant supervisory departments should make more unannounced visits and random checks, so that the wrongdoers can be effectively discovered and punished.