Govt mulls ban of online dairy food sales

The government may ban the sales of dairy products and bulk food from online shops from April 1, Beijing commerce authorities said Tuesday.

Beijing Administration of Industry and Commerce has started soliciting public opinion on the proposed new food safety regulations.

"Bulk food sold in online shops has to go through many delivery and packing and sub-packing processes. Since they don't have a real shop, it's hard to ensure hygiene and safety," said Wang Zhanying, an official from the food department of the administration.

Wang said the ban on dairy products would be another step to enhance supervision on milk products and prevent situations such as the melamine poisoned milk powder scandal in 2008.

The new regulations will include more specific rules on the licensing of bulk cooked food sold in supermarkets, also intended to secure food safety.　

A manager, surnamed Kang, from the headquarters of Chaoshifa supermarket in Beijing, said they have always applied strict standards at their supermarkets and hope the government will have more supervision on the upstream supplier.

"Before we put the food on the shelf, we do thorough checks of the suppliers and their products," Kang said.

"I think the upstream food supplier is more crucial to ensure food safety, like the recent KFC problems with their chicken [suppliers] shows."

Du Ying, who buys cheese online, said it will not be good to blanket-ban dairy products.

"The brands I usually buy are hard to get in real shops. It [online shop] has a good record, so I don't worry about the quality. I think strengthened supervision from the government is better," said Du.