HANGZHOU, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou is asking its restaurants to offer online live streaming of their kitchens to allow customers who order takeout to keep an eye on food preparation.
In an effort to alleviate food safety concerns that shroud China's booming takeout services, the capital city of Zhejiang Province said over 150 restaurants had offered such services on a popular takeout app.
Hangzhou's administration for market regulation said it was part of the city's campaign to turn its eateries into "sunshine restaurants," which install cameras or have open kitchens to allow for customer supervision.
The online live vetting aims to eliminate the "blind spot" as more restaurants jump on the mobile internet bandwagon to promote their takeout services, said Wang Jinchao, an official with the administration.
Consumers will feel relieved as they can see what happens in the kitchen, while the restaurants will be prompted to comply with the rules, according to Wang.
China's take-out market was estimated at over 200 billion yuan (about 29 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, but the booming industry has been plagued by a lack of supervision and has been featured in a number of recent food safety scandals.
Wang said the mobile app will also improve the search ranking of restaurants that offer online live streaming to encourage more businesses to activate the function.
