SHANGHAI authorities are asking food deliverymen to tip them off about irregularities about unlicensed eateries as the city tries to deal with food safety violations.

Shanghai has more than 30,000 food deliverymen.

“Cracking down on unlicensed restaurants is our work, and this mechanism will help ensure food safety,” said Zhang Lei, deputy director of the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration’s food supervision and management department.

Online food delivery platforms Ele.me and Meituan Dianping have been asked to work out reward and punishment measures such as establishing credit archives of their workers.

The mechanism will be linked with the city’s complaint hotline 12331.

Meituan said five eateries in Xuhui District had been removed from its platform after deliverymen found that they did not have catering license, while Ele.me said the mobile phones used by its deliverymen has a function, which allows deliverymen to tip off by a simple click if they find the real address of eateries does not match with the ones posted online or unlicensed restaurants.

Whistleblowers will be rewarded up to 300,000 yuan (US$47,713).