Cottage Food Safety: Legal Analysis and Suggestions on Governance

In recent years, the sales volume of cottage foods through the channels of “online + offline” and “e-commerce platforms + mobile social applications”, has increased significantly. However, due to there being no unified definition of cottage foods sold by a micro-business, the low market access threshold, and the unclear responsibility for supervision of social platforms, food safety problems have frequently occurred, posing challenges to the application of relevant laws, supervision methods and social platform management. Compared to a registered and licensed small food production operator, the main services of a micro-business selling cottage food are closer to those of a small food workshop, so it is suitable to enter the market after an official record. When providing transaction services for the sale of cottage foods such as order placement and online payment, the social platforms assume the the same responsibilities as the third-party online food trading platforms, which are legal. In order to ensure the safety of cottage foods sold by a micro-business, detailed provisions on the types, pre-packaging and labeling requirements, business places and sample inspection of cottage food products should be made in local regulations or laws. Moreover, a multi-stakeholder collaborative mechanism which is dominated by administrative departments and involves the social media platforms, the food producers and operators, the industry associations, and the consumers should be established to enhance information sharing. Based on the principles of fairness, reasonableness and moderation, an incentive, restraint and punishment mechanism should be created for the social platforms to fulfill their responsibilities.