A recruitment advertisement released by Meituan, one of the largest food delivery platforms in China, made controversial waves online as the company was suspected of discriminating against carriers of the hepatitis B virus (HBV).
中国最大的食品配送平台之一美团发布的招聘广告在网上引起了争议，因为该公司涉嫌歧视乙肝病毒携带者。
In a job description for potential delivery men, the company said that applicants with “viral hepatitis” are not qualified to register on the platform, reported The Paper on Sunday.
上周日，该公司在一份针对潜在送货员的工作描述中表示，患有“病毒性肝炎”的申请人没有资格在平台上注册。
Yiyou Community, a non-profit Chinese organization that strives for the rights of people suffering from hepatitis B, told The Paper on June 5 that Huang Xi (pseudonym), a construction worker in east China’s Jiangxi Province who intended to register as a delivery man on Meituan, found himself unqualified for the job as he was a HBV carrier.
亿友公益是一个非营利性的中国组织，致力于维护乙肝患者的权利。6月5日，黄西(化名)告诉该报，黄西是中国东部江西省的一名建筑工人，他打算在美团注册为送货员，但他发现自己没有资格胜任这份工作，因为他是乙肝病毒携带者。
Yiyou Community pointed out the company’s action of simply rejecting applicants with viral hepatitis was not in compliance with the country’s law and regulation since the Food Safety Law only restricted those with viral hepatitis A and viral hepatitis E from directly processing food and didn’t ban those with HBV. The community accused the company of discriminating against HPV carriers.
亿友公益指出，该公司简单拒绝病毒性肝炎申请人的行为不符合国家的法律和规定，因为“食品安全法”只限制甲型病毒性肝炎和戊型病毒性肝炎患者直接加工食品，不禁止携带乙肝病毒的人。亿友公益指责该公司歧视HPV携带者。
However, this is not the only case in the food delivery industry. According to The Paper, Didi Waimai, Didi Chuxing-backed food delivery platform and Alibaba-backed Ele.me also listed the same job requirement for delivery men.
然而，这并不是食品配送行业的唯一例子。据该报报道，滴滴、滴滴出行支持的食品配送平台和阿里巴巴支持的Ele.me也列出了对送货员的同样工作要求。
According to China’s Food Safety Law implemented in 2009, anyone who engages in any work involving ready-to-eat food that suffers from any disease including viral hepatitis A and viral hepatitis E should be transferred to another position.
根据中国2009年实施的《食品安全法》，任何从事与即食食品有关工作的人，如果患有包括甲型病毒性肝炎和戊型肝炎在内的任何疾病，都应该被调职。
In addition, a revised version of the Food Safety Law implemented in 2015, stated that those who suffer from any disease listed by China’s National Health Commission should not engage in any work involving ready-to-eat food. And the listed diseases include viral hepatitis A and viral hepatitis E.
此外，2015年实施的《食品安全法》修订版规定，凡患有国家卫生委员会列出的任何疾病的人，不得从事任何涉及即食食品的工作。列出的疾病包括甲型病毒性肝炎和戊型病毒性肝炎。
None of the regulations or law mentioned that people who suffered from viral hepatitis B or carried HBV were banned from working in the food industry.
没有任何法规或法律提到患有乙肝或乙肝病毒的人被禁止在食品行业工作。
According to Deng Haihua, former spokesman of National Health Commission, HBV is transmitted through blood and bodily fluids, however not through daily contact, reported China News Service. He added by saying that inactive HBV carriers were not patients as they had no clinical symptoms and normal ALT levels that don’t pose a threat to people in daily contact with them.
据中国新闻社报道，国家卫生委员会前发言人邓海华称，乙肝病毒是通过血液和体液传播的，但不是通过日常接触。他补充说，不活跃的HBV携带者不是患者，因为他们没有临床症状和正常的ALT水平，不会对每天接触他们的人构成威胁。
What’s more, since the implementation of the Food Safety Law in 2009, the examination of HBV was removed from the process of health checks for employees working in the food industry and other fields that required the health check, reported China News Service.
此外，据中国新闻社报道，自2009年《食品安全法》实施以来，在食品行业和其他领域工作的员工的健康检查过程中，HBV的检查被取消。
However, the ambiguous job requirements of delivery men on various food delivery platforms reflected that certain discriminations against HPV carriers still exist in China and have triggered a heated debate among netizens on social media.
然而，快递员在各种外卖平台上的工作要求不明确，反映出中国仍存在对HPV携带者的某些歧视，并在社交媒体上引发网友热议。
“I don’t think it is a kind of discrimination [against applicants], after all, customers are concerned about food safety,” commented a user @Lili.
@李李评论道:“是应该的，毕竟客户很担忧，不是歧视不歧视的问题。”
“China removed the health check for HBV. None of the health certificates for food industry or orientation health checks require this kind of check anymore,” said a user @NiChengKunNanZhengz.
@昵称困难症z评论道：“国家多年前已经对乙肝携带取消检查，餐饮健康证和入职体检都没有这一项，但检查除非一些对肝功能有要求的特殊行业或者当兵，医院对用人单位告知是属于违规的，很多人你根本不知道他是乙肝病毒携带，有过很多乙肝病毒携者告医院体检或企业歧视，因为国家规定是可以从事餐饮和服务行业的”。
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 257 million people are living with the HBV infection around the world, including over 90 million infected people in China, which accounts for one-third of the world’s population.
据世界卫生组织(WorldHealthOrganization)统计，全球约有2.57亿人感染乙肝病毒，其中中国超过9000万人，占世界感染者的三分之一。