Businesses providing catering¹ services online are required to acquire food trade licenses² and have brick-and-mortar stores, according to China Food and Drug Administration.

国家食品药品监督管理总局日前声称，提供网络餐饮服务的商家须取得食品经营许可证并具备实体店铺。

The requirements came as part of an administrative³ draft designed to improve supervision⁴ of online food and catering services.

这些要求是食药监总局起草的一份旨在加强网络餐饮服务监管的意见稿中的部分内容。

For third-party platforms offering online catering services, the draft said that they should ensure real-name registration⁵ of online food providers. They should also make spot checks about the running of the food providers.

意见稿规定，网络餐饮服务第三方平台应当对网络餐饮服务提供者实名登记，并对其经营行为进行抽查。

Online platforms that fail to carry out random⁶ examinations of such suppliers could be warned, or fined 5,000 yuan ($727) to 30,000 yuan, the draft said.

意见稿指出，未能对这些供应商进行随机检查的在线平台可能会受到警告，或是处以5000至30000元不等的罚款。

Statistics from Beijing-based BigData-Research show that the volume of the online food-ordering industry in China reached 176.15 billion yuan in 2016.

根据北京比达咨询公司的数据显示，2016年我国网络订餐行业规模达1761.5亿元。

Hu Jinguang, vice-president of the Law School at Renmin University of China, said the popular trend toward online meal delivery has increased the information gap between food producers and consumers, adding that some suppliers may conceal⁷ or provide false information online.

中国人民大学法学院副院长胡锦光表示，网上订餐的流行趋势，已经增大了食品生产者和消费者之间的信息不对称。他还表示，一些供应商可能存在隐瞒或提供网上虚假信息的情况。

The government should strengthen supervision over online shops and platforms and encourage information transparency to promote food safety, Hu added.

胡锦光称，政府应加强对网上商店和平台的监管，鼓励信息透明，以提升食品的安全。