Food deliverymen encouraged to be whistleblowers

As part of measures to boost food safety in the city, authorities have turned to the group of people who have intimate knowledge of what’s happening on the ground – food delivery riders.

On Tuesday, officials from the city’s Baoshan district hosted a ceremony during which they encouraged 1,300 delivery personnel from ele.me to report restaurants they come across that do not have business licenses or prepare food in unhygienic conditions.

The move to utilize deliverymen as whistleblowers of food safety violations was inspired by recent incidents in other cities.

In July, a deliveryman in Qinhuangdao, north China’s Hebei province, exposed the unsanitary working conditions in the kitchen of a fast food restaurant, leading to a crackdown on the venue.

Earlier this month, another deliveryman in Shantou, south China’s Guangdong province, exposed how the owner of a hot pot restaurant would let his son step on meatballs that would later be served to customers.