The reporter learned from the State Administration for Market Regulation yesterday (21st) that the State Administration for Market Regulation, together with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, and the National Health Commission, issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Food Safety Supervision of Prefabricated Dishes and Promoting the High-quality Development of the Industry", which clarified the scope of prefabricated dishes at the national level for the first time, and defined the raw and auxiliary materials and preprocessing technology of prefabricated dishes. The main points are as follows:
What is Pre-Prepared Food?
Prefabricated dishes, also known as prefabricated dishes, are pre-packaged dishes made of one or more edible agricultural products and their products as raw materials, with or without the use of seasonings and other auxiliary materials, without adding preservatives, through industrial preprocessing (such as stirring, pickling, tumbling, forming, frying, frying, roasting, boiling, steaming, etc.), with or without seasoning packages, in line with the storage, transportation and sales conditions indicated on the product label, and can only be eaten after heating or cooking.
What foods are not pre-made dishes?
From the perspective of dish attributes——
- Pure vegetable foods that have only been cleaned, peeled, cut and other simple processing and uncooked are edible agricultural products and do not belong to prefabricated dishes.
- Staple food products such as quick-frozen noodles and rice foods, instant foods, boxed lunches, rice bowls, steamed buns, pastries, meat buns, breads, hamburgers, sandwiches, pizzas and other staple food products are not pre-made dishes.
In addition, chain catering enterprises widely use the central kitchen model, and the clean vegetables, semi-finished products and finished dishes produced by themselves and distributed to their own stores shall comply with the laws, regulations and standards of catering food safety. Dishes prepared in the central kitchen are not included in the scope of pre-made dishes.
The definition of pre-made dishes emphasizes that they can only be eaten after being "heated" or "cooked" -
- Heating refers to the process of heating food to an edible state, i.e. simply reheating a product that has been pre-processed and cooked before eating.
- Cooking refers to the process of cooking food by frying, frying, roasting, boiling, steaming, etc., that is, it is not fully cooked in the pre-processing stage, and it needs to be thoroughly cooked before it can be eaten.
Ready-to-eat foods that can be eaten without heating or cooking, and salads such as vegetables (fruits) salad that can be eaten directly are not considered pre-made dishes.
How to strengthen the food safety supervision of prefabricated dishes?
- Strictly implement entity responsibility. Supervise and urge prefabricated vegetable production and operation enterprises to establish and improve the food safety management system in accordance with the requirements of the "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of the Main Responsibility of Enterprises for Food Safety", strengthen the risk management and control of food production and operation, strictly control the quality of raw materials, inspect the product quality certificates such as the commitment certificate of edible agricultural raw materials in accordance with the law, and strictly use food additives.
- Strengthen the management of production licenses. Revise and improve the detailed rules for the review of relevant food production licenses, and raise the entry threshold for the prefabricated food industry. Local market supervision departments should combine food raw materials, technology and other factors to implement classified licenses for prefabricated dishes, strict license review and on-site inspection, and strictly control the production license of prefabricated dishes.
- Intensify supervision and inspection. Focus on inspecting the implementation of quality and safety measures in the purchase inspection, production process control, storage and transportation of prefabricated vegetable production and operation enterprises, and order rectification in place to form a closed loop of supervision for the problems found in the inspection. Organize and carry out supervision and sampling of prefabricated dishes and risk monitoring, and severely crack down on violations of laws and regulations.
Vigorously promote the use of pre-made dishes in catering
Article 8 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests stipulates that consumers have the right to know the truth about the goods they purchase or use or the services they receive.
At present, consumers are generally concerned about the use of prefabricated dishes in the catering sector, and the "Notice" requires that all relevant departments should coordinate development and safety, and urge food production and operation enterprises to engage in prefabricated food production and operation activities in accordance with the requirements of prefabricated raw materials, processing technology, product range, storage and transportation, and eating methods. Vigorously promote the use of prefabricated dishes in catering to protect consumers' right to know and choose.
What are the considerations for requiring pre-made dishes to be free of preservatives?
When answering reporters' questions on the relevant situation of the "Notice", the person in charge of the relevant departments of the State Administration for Market Regulation said——
- Although prefabricated dishes have been industrially prefabricated, they still belong to the category of dishes, and consumers generally do not add preservatives in the cooking process of dishes, and the provision that pre-made dishes are not added to preservatives is more in line with consumer expectations.
- "Do not add food additives unless necessary" and "reduce the use of food additives in food as much as possible under the premise of achieving the expected effect" has gradually become the industry consensus. Prefabricated dishes are stored under storage conditions such as freezing and refrigeration and post-sterilization treatment processes, and there is no technical necessity for the use of preservatives.
- No preservatives are added, which meets the risk management and control requirements of prefabricated dishes. In the process of production, storage, transportation and sales, prefabricated dishes have higher requirements for environment, temperature, humidity, light, etc., and the whole chain of food safety risk control should be strengthened, and different types of prefabricated dishes should strictly meet the corresponding requirements for freezing and refrigeration to ensure food safety.