Source: Frozen food

What is the future of prepared dishes？And which direction to go？

This article is the original frozen food, author: Lv Cuiping, coordinator: Wang Xiaoling, editor: Lu Fanling, editor: He Menghua, reprint please contact the source。

Recently, the topic of prepared dishes entering the campus has aroused great concern in the society。Some media reported that some parents even quit their jobs to send their children meals in order not to let them eat prepared dishes。Prepared dishes are back in the spotlight。

So what exactly is a prepared dish？Is it really an unhealthy, unhealthy, unsafe food？What is the future of prepared dishes？And which direction to go？

Cold Food Jun interviewed Zhang Chunhui, chief scientist of the Agricultural Products Processing Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences。

First, for "prepared dishes", public opinion may have some misunderstandings

"Food safety is as big as day, parents' concerns and concerns should be paid great attention to, prepared dishes in the rapid development process, there are indeed many problems to be studied and solved.。It is necessary to strengthen food safety supervision measures, build a standard system, and comprehensively improve the supply chain, processing chain, and quality control chain of prepared vegetables, so as to provide consumers with delicious, convenient, nutritious, and safe food。"Zhang Chunhui said。

At present, public opinion has a different understanding of the concept of prefabricated dishes, some one-sided or even misunderstood。In terms of processing methods, prepared dishes can be divided into four categories: cooking, hot, ready-to-eat, and prepared。

Prefabricated dishes refer to finished or semi-finished dishes made of meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits, aquatic products, edible fungi, grains and other ingredients as well as one or more of their products as the main raw materials through pre-processing/pre-cooking/packaging, and stored, transported and sold at a certain temperature。At present, the prepared dishes entering the campus are mainly prepared pure dishes and semi-finished dishes, rather than the C-end hot and ready-to-eat dishes that are understood by everyone。This kind of dish is very rare on campus because of the high cost of ready-to-eat dishes, such as braised pork for premade meat dishes and pickled cabbage and fish for premade aquatic dishes。Therefore, it is not possible to confuse semi-finished prepared dishes, prepared ingredients and hot, ready-to-eat dishes consumed at the C-end。

At present, the most used in schools are ready-to-cook pure dishes and a small number of ready-to-cook semi-finished dishes。Prefabricated vegetables mainly refer to the pretreatment or pre-cooking of vegetables, meat, aquatic products, etc., such as dicing, slicing, slicing and killing enzymes, and slicing, dicing, slicing, rolling and pickling of raw meat。

After screening, cleaning and cutting, it is prepared with pure vegetables

Photo source: Zhucheng Maikang Electromechanical

Zhang Chunhui said that such pretreatment production of prefabricated vegetables and semi-finished dishes in the cold chain conditions, nutrition and safety can be guaranteed, do not need to add additional anti-corrosion fresh-keeping antioxidants, and the home is not much different。Many schools are also hot chain delivery, that is, after cooking in a central kitchen, it is delivered directly to the school。They may also use pre-prepared ingredients, as well as a "two-kitchen model" with cold chain delivery。However, no matter what kind of prepared dishes the school uses, as long as the procurement process is compliant, the quality control is strict, and the processing is standardized, there will be no food safety problems, and the nutrition, delicious and convenient of student meals can be guaranteed. Attributing the food safety supervision problem to the prepared dishes themselves is neither objective nor conducive to the real solution of the problem。

He believes that many people now equate pre-made meals with takeout, packaged meals and overnight meals, which is a misunderstanding。Takeaway is essentially the extension of catering, is a type of catering business。Take-out packages are a kind of prepared dishes, but not all of them。At present, the prepared dishes sold in the C-end market are mainly those hard dishes that take time and effort to cook at home, such as braised pork, sweet and sour pork, pickled fish and so on。These dishes from the table positioning, is a big dish, at home cooking process cumbersome, and time-consuming, made of prefabricated dishes greatly convenient home kitchen。

Also from this point of view, frozen dumplings, steamed buns and other products, can not be counted as prefabricated dishes, but prefabricated staple foods。

Second, prepared dishes avoid the superimposed addition of salt, which is more conducive to reducing oil and salt for a healthy diet

"High oil and salt are not healthy" is the label many people attach to prepared dishes these days。Zhang Chunhui said that the label is also biased, in fact, the emergence of prepared dishes can better help people control the intake of oil and salt, more conducive to people's healthy diet。

He explained，Traditional Chinese food in the process，The use of salt, sugar, oil and seasonings is very arbitrary，Usually a little salt, a little sugar，So every chef makes a dish that tastes different，The same cook always makes different dishes，而且，Salt is found in many kinds of seasonings，Superimposed use is easy to cause high invisible salt in dishes。

In the production process of prepared dishes, each link has a quantitative standard, and the problem of superimposed use of various seasonings will be controlled to a certain extent, thus reducing the addition of invisible salt。In the development of products, many prepared vegetable factories emphasize the integration of cooking and craftsmanship, chef and engineer, kitchen and factory, maintaining the traditional quality of industrial products, reducing the excessive use of salt and oil, so as to develop healthier food。

In addition, he introduced that in recent years, the prepared dish industry has been promoting clean labels and reducing the use of non-essential food additives, and many prepared dish companies are also working in this regard, which will also promote the prepared dish industry to develop in a healthier and delicious direction。

In the future, the proportion of prepared dishes in BC may be 5 to 5

Zhang Chunhui said that China's prefabricated dishes started late, but in recent years, under the stimulus of the takeout economy, the house economy, the lazy economy and the epidemic, the prefabricated dishes industry has ushered in a period of rapid development。In 2022, the scale of China's prepared vegetable market has reached 420 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 19 percent from 2017 to 2022.7%, in the next few years, the prepared food industry will enter the trillion track。

Despite the rapid development, China's prepared dish industry is still in the market cultivation period。At present, the main sales channels of prepared dishes are still concentrated in the B end, and the acceptance of prepared dishes at the C end is still low。

 "Now, many of our restaurant dishes are made from pre-made ingredients。Roast duck, for example, needs to be marinated and grilled in advance。Before, many roast duck shops were marinated in the store, and later, some chain roast duck shops transferred the marinating process to the central kitchen, unified marinating, and then distributed to each store for roasting, such roast duck is prefabricated, which is a kind of prefabricated dish。If the roast duck restaurant also transfers the roasting process to the central kitchen, freezes it, and then distributes it to various stores, this is also a kind of prefabricated dish, but the degree of prefabrication is different。Is there a problem with this production process？Of course there is no problem!So we can understand that precooking is the transfer of part of the cooking process from the back of the restaurant to the factory。”

Prepreparation is the transfer of part of the cooking process from the back of the restaurant to the factory

Photo source: Zhucheng Maikang Electromechanical

He introduced that the penetration rate of prepared dishes in the B end is already very high, at present, about 80% of prepared dishes are applied in the B end, and only about 20% have entered the household consumption。However, in the future, with the acceleration of people's pace of life, the improvement of acceptance of prepared dishes and the improvement of taste reduction of prepared dishes, the proportion of prepared dishes on family tables will definitely increase, and the proportion of family tables will reach 50% in the future, which will be basically the same as the B end, or the B end will be slightly higher than the C end。

 "At present, we eat at home is mainly breakfast, lunch in addition to the elderly, most of the working people are outside to solve, dinner and dinner at home the proportion of almost the same, which is also I think the future of prepared dishes at both ends of BC may be 5 to 5 reasons.。"Zhang Chunhui said。

Fourth, prefabricated dishes will promote the table revolution and help change the functional layout of family kitchens

2023Document No. 1 of the Central Committee proposed to "cultivate and develop the prepared vegetable industry", which has positive significance for promoting entrepreneurship and employment, upgrading consumption and revitalizing rural industries。In fact, prefabricated dishes meet consumers' demand for delicious, convenient, nutritious and safe diet, and play an irreplaceable role in realizing national precision nutrition and advocating a healthy lifestyle. It is also an inevitable trend for prefabricated dishes to enter families, restaurants and campuses。Zhang Chunhui predicted that in the future, as more and more prepared dishes enter the family, there will be a change in the table, so that the functional layout of the family kitchen will change。

Prepared dishes will revolutionize the kitchen

Image credit: Pixabay

Nowadays, many families will cook for an hour and eat for 10 minutes. People spend a lot of time and energy on cooking。In the future, with the improvement of the taste reduction of prepared dishes, more and more delicious, more and more healthy, prepared dishes into the family is an inevitable trend。When prepared dishes enter the home, they will free people from the tedious cooking and spend less and less time on cooking。On the contrary, they spend more time on emotional contact, emotional communication, and parent-child interaction during meals。Therefore, in the future, the area of the kitchen preparation area may be reduced, and the location of the dining area will be larger, so as to adapt to the change of family dining function。

 "In the future, the main function of the home kitchen will not only be a cooking place, but also a common area for family members and relatives to meet and communicate.。Zhang Chunhui added。

Extension and expansion

Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Agricultural Products processing Institute, Chinese food processing and equipment innovation team introduction

As the chief scientist, researcher and doctoral supervisor of Chinese Food Processing and Equipment Innovation Team, Zhang Chunhui has long been engaged in the research work of meat quality formation and control, industrialization conversion technology of prepared vegetables and Chinese meat products, and high-value utilization of slaughter coproducts。

At present, the main tasks of the Agricultural Product Processing Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Chinese food processing and equipment innovation team revolve around: quality maintenance and industrialization of Chinese meat products, green processing technology and industrialization of meat dishes, and high-value utilization technology of co-products of livestock and poultry slaughter, etc., to carry out quality inheritance and integrity innovation of Chinese food processing。

其中，It is worth mentioning that "Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas Chinese Meat Dishes Processing Technology Integrated Laboratory"，This project focuses on the engineering processing technology and automatic core equipment of Chinese meat dishes，The laboratory has four innovation platforms: standardization of raw meat processing, quantification of auxiliary ingredients, thermal processing engineering, and automation of packaging sterilization。Through the breakthrough of common technology and core equipment, a certain scale, flexible, three-dimensional, multi-functional technology research and development platform for meat products industrialization has been built。

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