Sales of self-made products need a redline

In recent years, self-made food and medicines－ranging from pickles, preserved pork and fermented bean curd to fruit wine, biscuits and cakes, diet enzymes, candies and Chinese herbal tea－are selling like hot cakes online.

There is an increasing market for these products, often labeled as "pure" "natural", "non-additive" and "handmade". However, a recent media investigation found that some of these businesses lack product and operation certification.

Thanks to e-commerce platforms, farmers' fields rich in self-produced fruits and rice, noodles and other local specialties are now connected directly with the tables in cities. This not only meets the diversified needs of consumers, but also increases farmers' incomes.

However, crossing the redline guarding the sale of self-made food can unleash hidden dangers. For example, self-made agricultural and sideline products such as rice, noodles and fresh meat need not be registered when sold online, but once agricultural products are processed, they require a license before being sold online. Therefore, businesses cannot sell self-made canned fruit and cakes without food production, circulation and business licenses.

Given that healthcare products and drugs have a bearing on people's health and life, their production and sale need certification. However, extending the rules that allow the sale of self-made food to healthcare products and medicines can expose consumers to risks, given that it is easy to add unknown ingredients such as sibutramine, a banned drug, to self-made healthcare products and medicines such as diet pills and viagra. Such adventures can no longer ensure that the products remain "pure" and/or "natural".

The sale of self-made food thus needs to be monitored. A redline should be drawn and stricter supervision put in place to ensure that self-produced and self-sold channels are not abused. E-commerce platforms should fulfill their internal supervision responsibilities. Rules and regulations should be established at multiple levels and supervision should be strengthened to streamline the sale of self-made products.