Live-streaming, as a sales and marketing tool, in the food industry has been rapidly growing particularly in China.
Growing use of this format to sell food products, especially on near-omnipresent platforms in the country such as Douyin ( Tik Tok) and Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), has led the Chinese government to implement new regulations specifically targeting live-streamers, making China the first government to implement this new ruling.
The main reason for the new regulation, which will be implemented on 20 March 2026, is to ensure food safety as well as ethical selling practices, according to statement by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). The new regulation will comprehensively apply to the live-streamer (can be normal host, celebrity or a company representative) as well as ‘behind-the-scene’ operators of the e-commerce platforms, operators of the live-streaming rooms used, marketers and market service agencies involved in the live-streaming activities.
New specific requirements have been introduced and these include platform operators (such as Douyin) required to create formal platform service agreements, transaction rules and food safety management systems to ensure that the food products being sold on their sites are compliant with regulations.
Live-stream room operators are also now required to furnish real information such as name, ID card number, actual business address, contact information, and administrative licenses, [with] verifications and updates to be reviewed every 6 months.
SAMR has also instructed all platform operators to create a ‘Food Safety Risk Control List’ for the specific products that are being sold via live-stream on their platforms, specifying the risk control management system in place for each product.
Filtering technology as well as other equipments, which affect the color and sensory appeal of food products, is also not allowed during live-streaming.
In addition, the food product must not carry any claims of medical benefits, unless they are truly certified as health products.
In China, live-streaming accounts for 23% of the country’s online retail sales, and is estimated to be worth over Rmb 5 trillion (US$675 billion), according to Chinese insights agency Hi-Com.
