Investigation 1
Food is favored by online shoppers. What is the reason?
A few days ago, the reporter selected an office building near Paradise Road in Hexi District, near Huayuan in Nankai District and Heping District as samples, and interviewed 50 employees randomly, 28 of whom had the experience of online shopping for homemade food. More than half of the people are enthusiastic about it. In the interview, the reporter summarized several reasons why homemade food was sought after by netizens.
Reason 1 Exquisite and interesting, with more unique taste.
Chrysanthemum-shaped cookies, Barbie-shaped cakes, Hello Kitty-shaped chocolates, and opening a homemade dessert online shop, people can't help but be moved by all kinds of eye-catching shapes. "Let's talk about this biscuit. Usually children don't eat much, but they like homemade cookies online. First of all, there are many styles, including small stars, small moons, animal shapes and fruit shapes. They choose different styles every time they shop online, and children especially like it. " Ms. Zhang works in a foreign company, and her child is 4 years old. Her love for all kinds of cute shapes has become an important reason for her online shopping for homemade food. During the interview, the reporter found that there are still many people who have the same idea as Ms. Zhang.
Reason 2 advocates freshness, health and no additives.
"Why do you like to buy homemade food online? Fresh, good raw materials, no preservatives, rest assured! " Downstairs of an office building near Paradise Road in Hexi District, Mr. Zhang, who just got off work, told reporters. Mr. Zhang told reporters that mother pays special attention to the quality of life and has high requirements for spices and food used for cooking. She always thinks that things with too long shelf life have too many preservatives, which is not good for her health. I don't know who said it before, but I urged my son to buy fresh and green food for her online. "Sesame sauce, cooking oil and sesame oil are all obtained by farmers from the Internet. The shelf life is short and the taste is good. My mother recognized it. After eating, I will buy some from the Internet. "
The banner of "pure green" and "no added" has really attracted many consumers.
Miss Zhu, who has always been a "Taodaren" in the unit, recently bought handmade biscuits and cakes from the Internet and became the object of contention among colleagues in the unit. "This biscuit must be eaten within 7 days, otherwise it will be broken." "There can be no preservatives. Not only is it safe to eat, but it tastes good. " Colleagues were full of praise for Miss Zhu's dessert.
Zhou Xiao has always liked baking. I heard that there is a great market for homemade cakes, so I opened a micro-shop and turned my hobby into a commercial project that can be sold. I often take pictures in my circle of friends. "My cakes are all imported cream, which is sold in a circle of friends. Some friends will introduce them to his friends and sell only five a day." The price of her cakes ranges from 150 yuan to 300 yuan, which is not lower than that of some big brand cake shops, but it is very popular and business has been good. "Now people's quality of life has improved, and more and more people like some foods with original flavor, good raw materials and few additives. Although we don't have much output, we have a good sales volume. " Zhou Xiao told reporters.
Reason 3: the shape and taste can be customized according to customer needs.
"Life is short, let's go together." In a small box, there are 25 chocolates of different shapes, some of which are engraved with these words. During lunch break, Mr. Meng of a company took out his mobile phone and showed the reporter a picture of homemade chocolate he had bought online before. Mr. Meng said that September 9 is his wife's wedding anniversary. Every year, on this special festival, people will give gifts to each other. Gradually, he felt that it was those things that were sent back and forth. In order to give his wife a surprise, he specially "privately ordered" this chocolate online. "I can engrave any word and feel very creative."
The reporter opened the link of this store introduced by Mr. Meng, and saw that "send your girlfriend", "send your mother", "birthday", "wedding banquet" and "class reunion" all have various customized chocolates. In addition, the taste can also be selected according to your own preferences. "I just like to eat cookies with only chocolate and no sugar. It's hard to buy these cookies, so I can only order them from homemade stores. " Ms. Chen told reporters.
Survey 2
The threshold for opening a store is low, and self-made food stores are developing rapidly.
The reporter's investigation found that there are two kinds of homemade food stores online. First, there are physical stores. In order to expand e-commerce business, they set up shop online. Most of these stores have production licenses and other documents. The other is a self-made online shop for food lovers to test the water, or to make and sell local specialties. Most of these shops can't provide safety certificates. Recently, these stores have opened more and more, mainly because of the low barriers to entry for third-party e-commerce.
The reporter tried to open a homemade food store online and found it easy to apply for opening a store according to the application procedure. The e-commerce party did not force the production license number, but asked to sign a food safety commitment letter.
Some consumers have reported complaints after purchasing inferior products, but it is difficult to solve them.
There are also businesses that make homemade food, and there is no need to open an online store. As long as you send some tempting food pictures in the WeChat circle of friends, plus a few simple introductions, you will open a shop with almost zero threshold in the circle of friends. "The pickles made by my friend's mother are particularly delicious. Many people in the circle of friends asked him to order. Look, this is mustard and this is white radish. " Ms. Yang, who works in a foreign company, introduced to reporters while looking at the pictures of her mobile phone. During the interview, the reporter found that there are quite a few homemade foods sold by this circle of friends.
"there are very smooth channels for selling homemade food, and the threshold is very low. It is easy to open a shop online or sell on WeChat. This factor leads to the inferior quality of online homemade food. " An industry insider analyzed.
Survey 3
If you just say it's safe by mouth, you can't provide proof.
Log on to Taobao and open several online stores selling homemade food at will. The reporter found that the homemade food sold by him has no information such as production date, production license number and product standard number except a simple description of the production process.
The reporter contacted a merchant on Taobao Want Want. The merchant said, "Doing business depends on conscience and trust from both sides. Our customers are repeat customers, no problem. " Another merchant's statement is even more unacceptable: "It is impossible to have a production license for things made at home. If you want to believe it, buy it. Don't buy it if you don't believe it. " We are also limited, don't worry about selling! "
The reporter asked some shops on Taobao. Only a few manufacturers with physical stores can provide production license numbers and product standard numbers, and most of them can't provide food safety certificates.
"What safety certificate, we dare to show the production process, is the best proof." A shopkeeper selling local products told reporters. The reporter saw that his shop page read: farmers make their own, green and natural. In the picture on the page, an old woman is picking and cooking mustard. In the farmhouse, pieces of mustard are dried in the sun. The owner told the reporter: "We are doing pure green local products, and customers are also coming for this."
Although many merchants talk about homemade food in the face of the reporter's consultation, once asked whether they have health certificates and other issues, most people prevaricate with "conscience" and "integrity". "Unlicensed" has become the biggest weakness of home-made food sellers. Moreover, the raw materials are unknown. It is said to be safe, but there are actually greater security risks.
"Say it with your mouth? It is made of very high-quality raw materials, and the production process of the wall chart display is also very clean and hygienic. Who knows, is it true? Without the proof of a third party, I still feel uneasy. " "A friend opened a micro shop, selling homemade food. Before I saw the picture he sent, I didn't wear gloves or a hat when I was kneading dough. How unsanitary! I never buy it under the banner of hygiene. " Some online shoppers are skeptical about the safety of homemade food.
There is no supervision in all aspects of supply, production and storage.
Foods that enter the market according to industrial production processes are usually subject to stricter supervision. The homemade food that thrives on the Internet is often under the banner of "private kitchen" and "exclusive secret system", and it is often in the gray area of supervision. Because of this, netizens nicknamed it "dark cuisine." The reporter learned from the departments of industry and commerce, food and drug supervision. At present, most sellers of homemade food are not registered with the relevant departments. Although the food they sell belongs to the circulation field, its supply, production, storage and transportation are not within the scope of effective supervision, which makes the safety hidden dangers and risks of consumers increase continuously.
An engineer who has been engaged in food production for many years thinks that just because you are a "baking expert" or a "cooking expert" does not mean that you can make healthy food that meets the requirements. Many consumers are induced by the slogans such as "no addition" and "pure green" of the store, and keep placing orders to buy, but qualified healthy food is not only affected by these factors, but also ensures the safety of the whole process from the source to the table. Food safety is related to the health of thousands of families. China has very strict requirements on food production. From the production environment, supply, production technology, to entering the public dining table, each link has different production standards, and multiple tests are needed. However, most homemade foods sold online can't do this, that is, the health status of production personnel closely related to food safety can't be understood by buyers.
During the interview, a food safety law enforcement officer revealed to reporters that there are two main sources of online homemade food, one is some small food processing factories, and the other is some homemade workshops. Most of the production has no specific address, and some of it is done at home. Moreover, a considerable proportion of homemade food belongs to different places, which is concealed, which brings difficulties to the law enforcement inspection of relevant departments.
In addition, the market attribute of homemade food is not very clear, which brings difficulties to supervision. In this regard, a law enforcement officer is quite helpless: "Even if the production environment is bad and no longer meets the requirements, what can you do if he insists that it is for his family?"
It is illegal to sell "three noes" food online.
Third-party platforms can undertake advance payment.
Internet-made food is becoming more and more popular, and it has become a fashion among certain people. Homemade diet biscuits, self-ground flour, homemade cakes, even homemade sausages, homemade sesame paste, and so on. There are many varieties and many fans. According to the reporter, the vast majority of homemade food belongs to prepackaged foods. In the eyes of professionals, many are illegal "three noes" products.
It is understood that a qualified food producer must have at least the following documents: food production license, food hygiene license, health certificate, business license, product quality certificate and other documents. Sellers of homemade food do not have the above certificates, and they do not have relevant production qualifications.
In addition, according to the requirements of relevant laws and regulations, all food production enterprises must undergo compulsory inspection, and after passing the inspection, relevant labels shall be affixed to the food packaging of the smallest sales unit, and unlabeled sales in prepackaged foods are prohibited. The label shall clearly indicate the product name, specification, net content, production date, ingredient or ingredient list, manufacturer's name, address, contact information, shelf life, product standard code, storage conditions, common names of food additives used in national standards, production license number and other information.
On the one hand, the online trading of food brings convenience to consumers. On the other hand, the threshold for selling food online is low, which leads to many foods with quality problems. According to the reporter, many self-made food sellers hold several positions, all of which are responsible for customer service, procurement, production and distribution. The buying and selling situation is rather chaotic. Due to information asymmetry, many sellers are in different places, which brings great difficulties to consumers' online food rights protection.
The reporter interviewed people in the legal profession and learned that the first amendment to the Food Safety Law since 2009 has been submitted to the National People's Congress for deliberation. One of the highlights of this revision is to require online food operators to register their real names and stipulate that third-party platforms for online food transactions can pay in advance.
Some lawyers believe that strengthening the supervision of food online transactions is of positive significance to protecting consumers' rights and interests. When the provider of the third-party platform for online food trading finds that the online food business operators have violated the provisions of the Food Safety Law, they should stop it in time and immediately report to the food and drug supervision and administration department of the people's government at the county level where the provider of the third-party platform for online food trading is located; If a serious illegal act is found, it shall immediately stop providing online trading platform services. Consumers who purchase food through the third-party platform of online food trading may claim compensation from online food operators or food producers if their legitimate rights and interests are damaged. If the third-party platform provider of online food transaction cannot provide the real name, address and effective contact information of the online food operator, the third-party platform provider of online food transaction has the right to recover from the online food operator or food producer after compensation. If the provider of the third-party platform for online food trading makes a promise that is more beneficial to consumers, it shall fulfill the promise. If the third-party platform provider fails to formulate relevant regulations and damages the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, it shall bear joint and several liability.