A restaurant worker prepares takeout orders at a pickup window while livestreaming the meal preparation process at a restaurant in Gongshu district, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on May 28. [Photo/IC]

New national rules on food safety responsibilities for online catering operators took effect on June 1, targeting problems such as unlicensed delivery-only businesses and fake credentials.

Zhejiang province had already begun tightening oversight in the second half of 2024, focusing on business access, license disclosure, and food preparation to make delivery kitchens more transparent.

For market access, Zhejiang has worked with major food delivery platforms to verify business licenses and qualifications, breaking down data barriers between market regulators and platforms. Since June 1, new merchants in Zhejiang that fail qualification checks on the three major platforms have been barred from going online and taking orders.

License disclosure is another key step. Zhejiang was among the first in China to promote an electronic license disclosure system, using the province's unified electronic certificate database to connect with the three major delivery platforms. License information can now be automatically synchronized and updated, replacing the previous practice of merchants uploading photos manually.

The platforms display merchants' electronic licenses directly on ordering pages, making the information clearer and harder to forge.

Zhejiang has also strengthened oversight of food preparation. It was among the first in China to include the "internet plus transparent kitchen" system in local legislation and to connect it to food delivery platforms. Consumers can click the "transparent kitchen" entry on ordering pages to watch real-time kitchen operations.

So far, nearly 190,000 food delivery merchants across Zhejiang have adopted the system, making kitchen operations more visible to consumers and regulators.