Beijing opens investigation into China’s biggest food delivery sites

It doesn’t matter which Chinese giant you use to order your takeout meals – Baidu Waimai, Ele.me, or Meituan – because all three of them are under investigation. Beijing Food and Drug authorities announced on Wednesday that they have opened investigations into all three of China’s major food delivery sites following complaints recieved from customers in the first half of the year: 92 about Meituan, 77 about Ele.me, and 59 about Baidu Waimai.

The issue under investigation is whether these platforms are working with restaurants that haven’t publicly posted their legal restaurant certifications. Food and Drug authorities say that the restaurants implicated include some big names, including KFC and Pizza Hut franchises in Beijing.

This is not the first time Chinese authorities have raised this issue. All three platforms have been accused of working with unlicensed or otherwise not-legally-compliant restaurants and kitchens before. Ele.me got slammed by state media earlier this year, and Shanghai Food and Drug authorities made a similar crackdown on online delivery platforms last year.

The investigation itself isn’t likely to impact any of these companies significantly, and it sounds like at least in some cases, the issue isn’t even that the restaurants are unlicensed, it’s just that their licenses have not been properly displayed. However, the constant investigations and criticisms from state media have the potential to damage public trust in the safety of these platforms. Whether that will be enough to overcome the convenience of ordering dinner from your phone is anyone’s guess (but a wise man wouldn’t bet on it!)