Science and Technology Daily reporter Qiao Di correspondent Qu Wen
God TWELVE astronauts "travel" in space for 90 days, what do they eat three meals a day? Do we ordinary people have this blessing?
Recently, Xiao Yang of Hebi City, Henan Province, went to Shanghai on a business trip, and before leaving, he specially purchased several boxes of aerospace-grade food produced by Yongda Group from the store to bring to friends. "These foods are all produced by aerospace technology, rich in nutrition, delicate taste, quality and safety, representing the most cutting-edge technology in the field of food..." Xiao Yang proudly introduced the special foods of his hometown to friends.
With the efforts of Henan Yongda Group, aerospace food is not only the "exclusive supply" of astronauts, but also "flying into" the homes of ordinary people. The "Yongda Aerospace-grade Food" has become a business card for Hebi people to introduce their hometown and promote their hometown.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > has undertaken the research and development and production of more than 100 kinds of aerospace food in five batches</h1>
On the honor wall of the headquarters of Yongda Group located in the Hebi National Economic and Technological Development Zone, a plaque of "Key Collaborative Unit of the National Astronaut Center" is particularly eye-catching.
Since June 2010, Yongda Group has cooperated with the China Astronaut Scientific Research and Training Center, and has undertaken the research and development and production of more than 100 kinds of aerospace foods in five batches of "Shen Ba", "Shen Jiu", "Shen Xi" and "Shen XI". On September 1, 2014, the Group became an important supplier of aerospace food. A large number of special delicacies such as snow vegetable rabbit meat, roast chicken leg, char siu chicken, and eight treasure chicken "took" the spaceship into space.
"In June this year, more than 120 kinds of space food were transported to the Tianhe core module of the Chinese space station on the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft and the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft." Meng Qinggang, food safety officer of Hebi Yongda Food Company, said that nearly 50 of them are produced by Yongda Group.
It is understood that the space food that accompanies the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft is divided into six categories, and Yongda Group mainly undertakes non-staple foods and ready-to-eat foods, and the main ingredients of dishes include poultry, livestock and vegetables.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="28" > to achieve quality control in the whole process from the source of breeding to the table</h1>
On August 31, under the leadership of the staff, the reporter went to the Cooked Meat Processing Workshop of Yongda Group located in Hebi National Economic and Technological Development Zone to find out.
Wearing masks, hats and rubber gloves first, then wearing one-piece overalls and rubber shoes, "fully armed" after the need for electrostatic precipitators and a series of strict disinfection procedures, the preliminary preparation for entering the production workshop lasted nearly 20 minutes.
"Cutting, stringing, steaming, frying... In order to ensure food quality and safety, all meat processing is carried out in a sterile environment in accordance with the process requirements for the production of aerospace food. Meng Qinggang said that all chicken raw materials are fresh, and the slaughter time of broiler chickens is ensured to be within 3 hours, so as to fully ensure the taste of the product.
In the process of slaughtering and processing, the Group has established and implemented a food safety quality assurance system such as sanitary standard operating procedures, processing standard operating procedures, and critical control points in accordance with international standards. From broilers entering the factory to slaughtering, cutting, quick-freezing, refrigeration and other aspects of strict control, effectively ensuring product quality and safety.
"We have established an information management system covering the entire industrial chain of breeding chicken breeding, broiler slaughtering, cooked meat processing, product sales, etc., formed nearly 700 enterprise technical standards, and realized the quality control of the whole process from the source of breeding to the table." Meng Qinggang said.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="29" > develops a personal diet according to each astronaut's physical condition and nutritional needs</h1>
"As a state-level enterprise technology center, the group organized forces to carry out technical research according to the feedback provided by the China Astronaut Center, and through thousands of repeated tests, it has overcome a number of industrial technical problems and fully grasped the key technical data of aerospace food production." Xu Qingfen, director of Yongda Food Technology Research and Development Center, said.
In October 2016, after the successful launch of the Shenzhou 11 manned spacecraft, Yongda Food immediately put into the next stage of space food research and development work. "Compared with the 33-day mission of the 'God Eleven' space flight, the three astronauts of the 'God Twelve' will stay in the sky and core module for 3 months, with a longer time and a heavier mission, and it is particularly important to ensure that the astronauts get more energy and nutrition, and the safety requirements and dietary structure of the space food are also more stringent and scientific." Xu Qingfen said.
In accordance with the instructions and requirements of the Chinese Astronaut Scientific Research and Training Center, Yongda Food Technology R&D Center quickly organized technical forces and set up 6 development teams to carry out technical research and process innovation in combination with the astronauts' long space stay time, high nutritional requirements, convenient digestion and absorption under space environment conditions, nutrient transformation and other factors.
After more than 4 years of hundreds of times of formula modulation, product small test, pilot test, simulation experiment, proportion adjustment, etc., they finally met the acceptance standards of the astronaut scientific research and training center, met the more stringent requirements of food hygiene and nutrition indicators, and comprehensively improved and enhanced the key technical data of space food production, and met the requirements of the long shelf life of space food under the condition of nutrition, flavor and taste.
Aerospace food from the choice of raw materials, nutritional collocation to cooking methods and processes have strict standards, can not have any additives such as flavors. After the production of space food, the China Astronaut Center will then carry out a reasonable diet according to the physical condition and nutritional needs of each astronaut, and the calories provided by the food should be no different from the actual needs of the astronauts' bodies to ensure that they eat well in space and are more nutritious.
"In the 'God Twelve' space food, according to the opinions of the Space Center, we have reserved dishes such as roast chicken legs and snow vegetable rabbit meat, which are loved by astronauts, and at the same time added new side foods such as pigeon meat and pure vegetables, and strive to achieve rich taste and balanced nutrition." Xu Qingfen said.
In addition, according to the requirements of the aerospace recipe, all products should be conducive to digestion, absorption and nutrient conversion. "In the next step, we will strengthen innovation, benchmark the technical requirements of the space center, continue to improve the production process, continuously improve the quality of space food, and further meet the dining needs of astronauts in space." Xu Qingfen said. (Photo: Qu Wen Qiao Di)
Editor: Zhang Shuang
Review: Wang Xiaolong