On June 9, a food delivery rider in Chongqing's Tongliang District discovered a discrepancy during a routine order pickup. The listed business address on the license of a hamburger shop on a delivery platform did not match its actual preparation and pickup location, raising suspicions of a "ghost kitchen" operation. The rider immediately reported the complete details, including screenshots, location data, and photos, to the district's food delivery industry Party branch. The branch's Party-building instructor promptly forwarded the tip to the relevant departments of the Tongliang District Market Regulation Bureau and the local market supervision office. Following an investigation, regulators found the operator was providing catering services online without a food business license and had deliberately concealed the true preparation site, constituting typical unlicensed operation. The bureau imposed administrative penalties, confiscating 22涉案面包胚 (buns/dough bases), confiscating illegal gains of 3,135.15 yuan, and issuing a fine of 2,500 yuan.
On June 22, another rider reported to the same Party branch that three stores on a delivery platform were all using the same pickup address. An on-site inspection revealed these three licensed restaurants were sharing a single location for meal preparation. Two of them were found to be processing orders across different, unauthorized areas and shops, effectively outsourcing order preparation to other operators, with mismatched online/offline business information. This violated relevant provisions of the "Regulations on Supervising the Implementation of Food Safety Responsibilities by Online Catering Service Operators." The Tongliang District Market Regulation Bureau ordered the involved restaurants to rectify the issues within a stipulated period.
These two cases exemplify the Tongliang District Market Regulation Bureau's efforts to strengthen Party building among online delivery personnel and cultivate a team of "mobile sentinels" for food safety, known as "Tongcheng Couriers."
In 2025, the bureau focused on the most urgent needs of this new employment group, efficiently integrating resources and rapidly establishing a service network. It launched the "Warm 'New' Station · Market Supervision Office" brand in Tongliang to support new employment groups. Concurrently, it initiated a series of measures to cultivate food delivery riders as "mobile sentinels," exploring a "Party building + food safety" governance mechanism. This involves prioritizing Party members to guide online delivery personnel in serving as part-time food safety supervisors, encouraging them to promptly identify and report potential hazards. The bureau is also exploring mechanisms for technological empowerment and incentive guarantees to institutionalize, standardize, and normalize this collaborative supervision role.
This year, the bureau actively promoted the distinctive "Tongcheng Couriers" Party-building brand, aiming to build a collaborative food safety governance framework characterized by "Party building leadership, Party member initiative, and full participation." In May, Tongliang District launched the "Food Safety Clear Network" special campaign targeting online catering. The core measure of this campaign is the collaborative governance mechanism involving online delivery personnel as food safety supervisors. A closed-loop handling process has been established: "Rider reports -> Party branch forwards -> Market supervision verifies -> Resolution feedback to rider." This ensures every public tip is investigated and receives a response. Under Party building guidance, rider Party members actively identify themselves, take responsibility, and report various catering hazards, helping to eliminate hidden offline catering regulatory blind spots and achieving a two-way integration of regulatory power and new business format forces.
Reportedly, the Tongliang District Market Regulation Bureau will continue to adhere to Party building leadership, deepen grassroots governance practices, and actively carry out the "Riders Unite to Safeguard Food Safety" collaborative governance activity for online catering. This aims to further leverage the important role of online delivery personnel in the co-governance of online catering. First, it will expand the team of food safety "mobile sentinels," increase efforts to cultivate and recruit rider Party members, and improve incentive and recognition mechanisms for tip reporting. Second, it will regularly conduct training on new online catering regulations, enhancing riders' ability to identify illegal activities like "ghost kitchens" in line with the relevant supervision regulations. Third, it will continuously optimize the "regulation + volunteer" collaborative governance model, bridging the channels between rider supervision, platform management, and departmental law enforcement. This aims to rectify issues like mismatched licenses and addresses in online catering, further safeguarding public food safety and building a new pattern of social co-governance for food safety with widespread participation and comprehensive coverage.
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