For the first time at the national level, a document was issued to clarify the definition and scope of prefabricated dishes.
题图：Midjourney
Author: Jin Yang, Editor: Hong Jun
A joint document issued by six departments is stirring up the entire prefabricated food industry.
On March 21, the State Administration for Market Regulation and other six departments jointly issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Food Safety Supervision of Prefabricated Dishes and Promoting the High-quality Development of the Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which clarified the definition and scope of prefabricated dishes for the first time, and put forward clear requirements for strengthening the food safety supervision of prefabricated dishes and promoting the construction of a standard system for prefabricated dishes.
One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and there was widespread attention and discussion inside and outside the industry. What are the hard-core new regulations released by this "Notice"? The official put forward clear requirements for prefabricated dishes, and officially carried out governance around prefabricated dishes, does it mean that the prefabricated food industry is about to change?
Six departments jointly issued new hard-core regulations,
The national norms for prefabricated dishes have officially kicked off
On the whole, the "Notice on Strengthening the Food Safety Supervision of Prefabricated Dishes and Promoting the High-quality Development of the Industry" jointly issued by the six departments puts forward clear requirements in four aspects: the scope of prefabricated dishes, the construction of standard systems, food safety supervision and the promotion of high-quality development of the industry.
The detailed requirements will not be repeated here, but only a few key points mentioned in this "Notice" are shared with you here.
First, the definition and scope of pre-made dishes. The "Notice" makes it clear that prefabricated dishes are pre-packaged dishes that can only be eaten after heating or cooking, and only clean vegetable foods that have been simply processed and uncooked after washing, peeling, and cutting belong to edible agricultural products and do not belong to prefabricated dishes. It also excludes staple foods, such as quick-frozen rice and noodle foods, instant foods, boxed lunches, rice bowls, steamed buns, pastries, meat buns, breads, hamburgers, sandwiches, pizzas, etc. In other words, pre-made dishes must have dish attributes.
It is worth noting that the "Notice" also mentions that dishes made in the central kitchen are not included in the scope of prefabricated dishes. The official explanation for this is that, considering the widespread use of the central kitchen model by chain catering enterprises, the clean vegetables, semi-finished products and finished dishes produced by themselves and distributed to their own stores should comply with the laws, regulations and standards for food safety in catering.
However, it should also be noted that the central kitchen model mentioned in the new regulations is that the restaurant enterprises make their own and distribute them to their own stores. That is to say, there is no problem with the central kitchen products of chain restaurant enterprises for their own use, but if they want to enter the market circulation, they still need to pass relevant regulations and strict processes.
Second, no preservatives are added, which is also a hotly discussed point in the content of the "Notice". According to the Notice, prefabricated dishes are made of one or more edible agricultural products and their products as raw materials, with or without 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.
In response to this, the official said in response to reporters' questions that food additives "do not add 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 an industry consensus, and prefabricated dishes through freezing, refrigeration and other storage conditions and sterilization post-treatment processes, there is no technical necessity to use preservatives. Stipulating that no preservatives are added to prefabricated dishes is more in line with consumer expectations and is conducive to the high-quality development of the prefabricated food industry.
Third, the "Notice" particularly emphasizes that the use of prefabricated dishes in the promotion of catering links should be clearly stated. In view of the current consumers' general concern about the use of prefabricated dishes in the catering sector, catering businesses are required to publicize the use of prefabricated dishes to protect consumers' right to know and the right to choose.
△ Image source: Picture Worm Creative
On the whole, the new regulations for prefabricated dishes are undoubtedly aimed at the concerns of consumers, and also respond to some issues of general concern to catering businesses and prefabricated food enterprises. As mentioned in the "Notice", the future regulatory authorities will strictly implement the "four strictest" requirements and strengthen the food safety supervision of the whole chain of prefabricated dishes.
The national regulation of prefabricated dishes may be officially kicked off.
The era of strong supervision is coming,
The prefabricated food industry will usher in a major reshuffle
Nowadays, as the prefabricated food industry enters the era of strong supervision, many people in the industry have also begun to predict that the reshuffle of the industry will intensify and enter the stage of big waves and sands.
After all, from the perspective of the development of the entire industry, in the past few years, prefabricated dishes have soared. From food companies to catering companies...... There are many players in the market, and everyone is rushing to the track of prefabricated dishes, and the development of the industry is in full swing. According to public data, there are currently more than 70,000 prefabricated vegetable processing enterprises in mainland China, and the output value of prefabricated vegetables will exceed 500 billion yuan in 2023.
But at the same time, the industry is also growing savagely, and there is a lot of chaos.
For example, the prefabricated dishes of plum cabbage and pork that were exposed at the 3.15 party not long ago used inferior trough meat as raw materials. According to reports, in Fuyang City, Anhui Province, one of the main production areas of prefabricated dishes, there are individual enterprises that use troughed meat that has not been strictly processed to make prefabricated dishes with plum cabbage and buckle meat. In the eyes of many local merchants, it has long been an open secret to replace pork belly with unclean inferior trough meat to make pre-made dishes with plum cabbage and button meat.
In the past, many companies have been exposed to the use of large amounts of preservatives and other additives to achieve the purpose of making pre-made dishes last longer, but the products produced have potential risks to human health.
Shao Ming, a celebrity chef who has previously transformed into a research and development entrepreneur of prefabricated dishes, once said that the development of prefabricated dishes can no longer be allowed to grow savagely. "The prefabricated food industry needs to establish rules and a clear bottom line, due to the lack of national standards and unified industry standards in the industry, resulting in a low threshold for entering the industry, and many practitioners but uneven quality. ”
Now, the introduction of new regulations, to a certain extent, makes up for the lack of industry standards, and will deter chaos such as counterfeit and shoddy imitation, no identification information, and raw materials that cannot be traced. At the same time, it will accelerate the process of the industry and bring about a reshuffle of the prefabricated food industry.
△ Image source: Picture Worm Creative
Judging from the provision of "no preservatives" mentioned in the new regulations, the state stipulates that it is okay to add preservatives to ordinary foods without exceeding the standard. However, the new regulations make it clear that preserved dishes do not add preservatives, which means that the requirements for prefabricated dishes are higher than those for ordinary foods, which will clear out a number of backward, illegal and potential safety hazard prefabricated food enterprises.
For the strength of enterprises in the field of prefabricated dishes, without preservatives, vacuum packaging, nitrogen filling, low-temperature cold chain transportation, and improved sterilization technology can also be used to improve the shelf life of food.
It is not difficult to produce a plate of delicious prefabricated dishes, but the production of prefabricated dishes with stable quality, food safety, delicious and cheap will put forward higher requirements for enterprises in all aspects of cooking, preservation and transportation.
After experiencing savage growth, and now encountering the standardization and strengthening of the industry, the entire prefabricated food industry is bound to develop in the direction of "bad money is cleared, and good money prevails".
I want consumers to buy it with confidence,
There may still be some distance
As mentioned earlier, with the introduction of the new regulations, the tail of small and medium-sized enterprises on the supply side will be squeezed out, and resources will be concentrated on the head brands, which will then drive the quality improvement of the entire prefabricated food industry.
As we all know, the consumer market of prefabricated dishes in mainland China has always been dominated by the B-side, and the use of prefabricated dishes in restaurants accounts for 80%.
Nowadays, the "Notice" makes it clear that the products produced by the central kitchen of chain restaurants do not belong to prefabricated dishes, so for those catering brands that have already built their own central kitchens, the semi-finished products and finished dishes that are produced and distributed to their own stores are not prefabricated dishes, and the brand can generously show consumers that their stores do not use prefabricated dishes.
△ Image source: Picture Worm Creative
In addition, this momentum is bound to affect the belief of more catering brands to build central kitchens.
Some people in the catering industry said that the new regulations do not include the dishes produced by the central kitchen in the scope of prefabricated dishes, which undoubtedly fully takes into account the actual situation of the catering industry and helps to promote the further popularization of the central kitchen in the catering industry.
However, on a deeper level, a simple document will not dispel long-standing consumer perceptions. Consumers do not know about the production of the central kitchen, and in the subconscious of many consumers, they still think that the production of the central kitchen belongs to the prefabricated dishes.
Therefore, in the future, how to let consumers form a new understanding of the dishes produced by the central kitchen and truly dispel consumers' concerns may still have a long way to go for catering brands.