Food delivery platforms urged to prevent waste

The State Administration for Market Regulation has released guidelines that urge online food delivery platforms and catering businesses that provide takeout services to further regulate their marketing practices to prevent food waste.

According to the guidelines published on March 27, online food delivery platforms are required to refine their marketing rules and post notices on prominent areas of ordering pages reminding customers to avoid over-ordering.

The platforms should also encourage catering businesses, through incentives, to develop, provide and promote smaller-portioned dishes, reasonably set minimum delivery amounts and remove staple foods from the scope of discount promotions.

As for businesses, the guidelines said that they will be required to reasonably determine the quantities and portions of their dishes, provide smaller portions and publish reminders about over-ordering.

The guidelines stressed that authorities should conduct both online and on-site inspections, including at restaurants, to prevent food waste and ensure food safety. Those who severely violate rules will be punished, and their deeds will be exposed to the public, the guidelines said.

More medical visits treated at grassroots level

China's primary-level medical institutions, including community health centers and township and village clinics, now handle 52 percent of the country's total medical visits, a National Health Commission official said on March 26.

During a news conference, Fu Wei, who is in charge of primary-level healthcare at the commission, said China has seen steady progress in building a tiered diagnosis and treatment system, with medical institutions at the county level and below serving more patients.

Fu said medical institutions in rural areas should be capable of handling common and frequently occurring diseases.

The tiered medical system aims to classify diseases according to their seriousness and difficulty of treatment as a reference for medical institutions at different levels to treat diseases, Fu added.

This year, China will further encourage patients to seek basic medical care at primary-level medical institutions and enhance these institutions' capacity to identify complex diseases and transfer patients to higher-level hospitals, Fu said.

Through such efforts, more common and frequently occurring diseases are expected to be diagnosed and treated at medical institutions at the county level or below, she added.

Central govt aims to boost catering industry

The Ministry of Commerce and eight other central departments jointly released a series of guidelines on Thursday on the country's catering industry that aim to further unleash the potential in catering consumption and better meet people's growing needs for the service.

The guidelines proposed using the strictest standards, supervision, penalties and accountability to improve food safety, thus enhancing the quality of catering services.

They also stressed the need to cultivate talent for the catering industry by establishing related majors at higher education institutions, promoting cooperation between schools and enterprises and hosting skills competitions, among other methods.

It is suggested in the guidelines that efforts be made to cultivate and identify a number of Chinese gourmet food districts and develop community catering services.

Catering enterprises should be supported to develop leisure and dining businesses in rural areas, according to the guidelines. Villages and towns, where local conditions permit, should be encouraged to build themselves into "gourmet villages" and "gourmet towns".