In-situ New Year’s Eve hot "online New Year’s Eve dinner" expert reminded

Check the quality and safety of semi-finished New Year's Eve dinner

  ● Affected by the epidemic, new changes have taken place in this year’s New Year’s Eve dinner order.

Compared to dining out, many people choose to book semi-finished gift packages, try self-pickup or home delivery services, and take the New Year’s Eve dinner home to eat

  ● The pre-prepared dish industry extends the finished and semi-finished dishes from the restaurant to the daily family table. It has broad prospects from the perspective of the general environment. However, if the industry wants to develop in the long term, it must pass the quality and safety barriers.

  ● In addition to strengthening online and offline supervision of New Year’s Eve dinners, regulatory authorities should also pay full attention to risk communication, and improve consumers’ ability to identify and prevent food safety issues through timely and targeted exchange of food safety risk information

  □ Our reporter Zhao Li

  New Year’s Eve is approaching, if you compare the New Year to a grand ceremony, then the New Year’s Eve dinner is undoubtedly the special carrier of this ceremony.

Compared with previous years, this year's "New Year" is different. In order to reduce the risk of epidemic spread, Chinese New Year on the spot has become the choice of many people.

So, how to eat New Year's Eve dinner?

  At present, many places across the country have issued the "non-essential non-return home during the Spring Festival" initiative.

On the one hand, it is the joy of the New Year's reunion, and on the other hand, it is to reduce the gathering of the epidemic prevention and control requirements. The local New Year's Eve dinner has been spawned by a new way of consumption, making more and more people choose pre-made dishes.

  On January 28, the Ministry of Commerce held a regular press conference. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, Gao Feng, said when talking about the popularity of online New Year’s Eve dinners, the popularity of “online New Year’s Eve dinners” actually reflected the catering industry. The new trend of retail development in Shanghai is expected to become a new growth point for catering consumption.

The Ministry of Commerce will guide the catering takeaway e-commerce platform to actively connect with catering service companies, and set up a special area for taking out New Year's Eve dinners in a timely manner to facilitate consumers to place orders; encourage takeaway riders to celebrate the Chinese New Year on the spot, and provide delivery service guarantee for catering takeaways during the Spring Festival.

  A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily learned that, affected by the epidemic, new changes have taken place in this year’s New Year’s Eve dinner order.

Compared to dining out, many people choose to book semi-finished gift packages, try self-pickup or home delivery service, and take the New Year’s Eve dinner home to eat.

Catering and shopping mall enterprises also follow the new trend and increase the variety and quantity of semi-finished products and fast-hand dishes, so that people can feel the strong flavor of the North and South.

Simply processed and ready to eat

Semi-finished pre-made vegetables are hot

  "Pre-made dishes" are different from the general fresh-fried fresh-cooking mode, which refers to the use of standardized flow operations to prepare and process the raw materials of the dishes, and the dishes can be eaten through simple cooking or direct opening after hygienic and scientific packaging.

  According to industry insiders, in the 1970s, in order to improve efficiency and ease the pressure of rent and labor costs, some chain restaurants and convenience stores in Tokyo, Japan, adopted the method of processing and delivering to stores for sale in the central kitchen, which was the prototype of the earlier pre-made dishes.

  In recent years, many domestic chain catering companies have also adopted self-built or cooperative central kitchens to distribute semi-finished products to restaurants for simple processing and supply.

Since the beginning of last year, affected by the epidemic, the "home economy" has stimulated the expansion of pre-made dishes from serving restaurants to supplying families, thus making pre-made dishes more attention.

  "Affected by the epidemic and current restrictions, the number of restaurant reservations for New Year's Eve canteen will inevitably drop." Chang Xiaohong, director of food safety at Yunnan Yunhai Meal Catering Management Co., Ltd., said in an interview with the media that this year Yunhai Meal was also launched in response to market demand. The service of pre-made dishes mainly introduces two service methods through the community, one is delivery of semi-finished products, and the other is delivery of finished dishes.

  I miss my family every holiday season, and the food carries the deepest yearning for my hometown.

  Jia Jia, who works in Beijing, does not plan to return to her hometown in Hangzhou this Spring Festival.

She bought semi-finished New Year's Eve dinners in Songhe Tower and Xibei Noodle Village online.

"My husband is a northerner, so our New Year's Eve dinner should take into account the tastes of the north and the south." Jia Jia told the reporter of the Rule of Law Daily that the semi-finished dishes she bought included squirrel mandarin fish, pepper chicken, fried shrimp, etc. The dishes are transported in the cold chain throughout the whole process, the quality is guaranteed, and it can be free of washing, cutting, and seasoning.

  A reporter from the Rule of Law Daily searched e-commerce platforms for shops that supply pre-made dishes. Among them, there are many familiar restaurants, such as Beijing Quanjude, Xibei Noodle Village, Shanghai Old Restaurant, Shanghai Xiaonanguo, and Guangzhou Restaurant.

The dishes include both the New Year's Eve dinner set menu, as well as single items such as Yangxiezi Hot Pot, Marinated Poon Choi, and Buddha Jumping the Wall. The prices range from one hundred yuan to thousands of yuan, and the overall sales are also good.

  According to data from Tmall in 2020, the sales volume of pre-made vegetables increased by 111% year-on-year, and the demand for pre-made vegetables showed a rapid growth trend.

  Seller Tingting told the reporter of "Rules of Law Daily" that this semi-finished New Year's Eve dinner product appeared a few years ago, and this year's sales have increased significantly.

"Post-90s are the main consumer group for semi-finished New Year's Eve dinners." Tingting said, "Many people want to have a hometown-style New Year's Eve dinner on the spot, but they are also afraid of poor cooking and long cooking time. The package not only satisfies the pursuit of a sense of ceremony, but is also convenient and fast.

  According to Zhu Yi, associate professor of the School of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering of China Agricultural University, the reason why the new consumption mode of semi-finished New Year’s Eve dinner is so popular is that it can save a series of tedious procedures such as washing, cutting, and cooking. You can quickly make a table of "hard-core" New Year's Eve dinners with delicious flavors and colors; at the same time, the semi-finished New Year's Eve dinners are eaten at home, which can not only avoid intensive contact with people, but also satisfy family gatherings and continue the traditional custom of having family reunion dinners.

It can be said that the semi-finished New Year's Eve dinner is not only convenient and labor-saving, but also conducive to epidemic prevention and control.

Security risks cannot be ignored

Be wary of three no products

  However, although the prefabricated vegetable industry has a long history of development in my country and there are a large number of producers, most of them still stay in the workshop-style production and processing mode, and there are few enterprises that have reached the level of production above the scale.

Chen Zhiguo, senior kitchen system consultant and professional food safety consultant of Unilever Food Planning, believes that the pre-prepared vegetable industry extends finished and semi-finished dishes from the restaurant to the daily family table. From the perspective of the general environment, it has broad prospects, but the industry needs long-term development. , Must pass the quality and safety barriers.

  With regard to quality, Zhang Ye, who once bought semi-finished dishes online, still has "a lingering fear".

  "One of my classmates invited them to their new home to celebrate the housewarming. The host originally hoped that everyone would have time to chat, so he chose semi-finished dishes sold by e-commerce. Express delivery to the door, the dishes can be heated by microwave ovens. Serve to the table. Such a meal is very convenient, but the portion is not enough. A table of food is 1,388 yuan, and 10 people are not full. The owner is very embarrassed.” In Zhang Ye’s view, not having enough food is a trivial matter. The freshness and express delivery issues are even more annoying.

  "There is an old duck pot, and there is almost no duck in the bowl. The soup in the sirloin pot is all leaking and it is not the original taste at all." Zhang Ye said, "Online shopping for New Year's Eve dinner requires transportation, shelving, and heating. Any of them Problems in the link may affect the quality and taste of the food."

  Fei Yan, a citizen of Beijing, is worried about the color, smell and picture of the dishes. "My family used to send me semi-finished food and beverage gift packages on my birthday. According to the pictures on the Internet, this gift package is very affordable, but it is available. Afterwards, my heart was cold, and one of the grilled steaks was only half the size of my fist, which was seriously inconsistent with the picture."

  "From the situation of Internet sales of New Year’s Eve dinners in recent years, the main food safety issues that have emerged are mixed, mixed, and mixed. New Year’s Eve meals include cold dishes, hot dishes, meat dishes, and vegetarian dishes. This is a rich and complete table. New Year’s Eve dinner, but because there are many dishes and varieties, the storage temperature is different, and the storage time is also different, plus mixing, etc., it is easy to form some hidden dangers during storage and transportation. For different dishes, keep them cold and cut and mix. The requirements for preparation are different.” Zhu Yi analyzed that the main safety hazards faced by semi-finished New Year’s Eve dinners are three aspects:

  One is the issue of qualifications. People will be used to tacitly accepting that they are qualified when they see food being sold, but in fact they are not. For example, there are some businesses that process them in the back kitchen with incomplete qualifications.

Unqualified companies have high potential safety hazards in the food they sell, and the kitchen and equipment may not provide sufficient support to prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner, resulting in the separation of raw and cooked food.

  The second is the storage risk. Consumers should pay attention to quickly classify the food after receiving it, and distinguish between freezing and cold storage.

  Third, the semi-finished New Year's Eve dinner may not meet the requirements of pre-packaged food. The ingredients list, production date, shelf life, storage conditions and other information should be clearly marked.

  “In view of the popularity of online New Year’s Eve dinners, the regulatory authorities should guide consumers to consume rationally, such as timely publishing of compliant and illegal online sales found in supervision and management, so that consumers can choose safe and secure New Year’s Eve dinner suppliers. Consumers keep the relevant bills as proof of rights protection in case of disputes." said Sun Juanjuan, a researcher at the Center for Collaborative Innovation in Food Safety Governance, Renmin University of China.

Implement classification management

Pay full attention to risk communication

  Affected by the epidemic, many chain catering brands sold semi-finished dishes in order to save themselves.

Hema Fresh Food, Haidilao, Perch, Xibei Noodle Village and many other catering brands are also accelerating the deployment of semi-finished food ingredients business.

  According to the "Semi-finished Vegetable Industry Market Survey and Prospect Forecast Report 2020-2026", there are currently many semi-finished vegetable manufacturers, fierce competition, low concentration, and few large-scale enterprises.

Although the semi-finished vegetable industry has a large market space, competition within the industry has become increasingly fierce, and price competition has led to a decline in corporate profits.

The establishment of a brand image for an enterprise can distinguish it from similar competitors, step out of fierce price competition, establish its own advantages, and enhance the added value of products.

  Public information shows that although the number of catering companies operating New Year's Eve dinners in 2020 has slowed down, the number of companies whose names or business scope includes "quick-frozen, prepared vegetables, prepared foods, semi-finished foods, ready-to-eat, clean vegetables" has exceeded 69,000.

  Insiders pointed out that if estimated at a compound annual growth rate of 20%, my country's prefabricated vegetable market can grow into a trillion-yuan market in the future. In the long run, my country's prefabricated vegetable industry is expected to achieve a scale of more than 3 trillion yuan.

  On August 6, 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation publicly solicited opinions on the "Measures for the Administration of Food Business Licenses (Draft for Comment)" (hereinafter referred to as "Measures").

In the revised content of adjusting food business items, the reporter of the Rule of Law Daily noted that simple production and sales classifications and semi-finished products production and sales items have been added. In view of the relatively low risk of simple production and sales items, the food business has been further refined Project category, implement food safety risk classification management.

  The "Measures" show that on the basis of hot food, cold food, and raw food food business items, simple production and sales classifications are added, and the review requirements for simple production and sales items are appropriately simplified.

Increase the production and sale of semi-finished products, clarify the definition of semi-finished products, and stipulate that the production and sales of semi-finished products can only be applied by the central kitchen.

  In view of the Internet’s participation in the New Year’s Eve "war" this year, in addition to strengthening the online and offline supervision of the New Year’s Eve dinner, many industry insiders believe that the regulatory authorities should also pay full attention to risk communication and increase consumption through timely and targeted exchange of food safety risk information. The management ability of the author to identify and prevent food safety issues.

  In this regard, Zhu Yi's view is-flexible supervision, keeping the bottom line of safety, and moderate flexibility.

  "Risk communication should also keep pace with the times. For example, for different seasons, whether to dig wild vegetables in spring and the safety of wild vegetables, etc.; during the Spring Festival, pay attention to the overall risk communication of the New Year's Eve dinner. Because the semi-finished New Year's Eve dinner will involve families In the kitchen, consumers themselves should also pay attention to some of the requirements for the operation of the family kitchen, such as separating cold and raw food, and then according to the storage temperature requirements of the semi-finished New Year’s Eve dinner. Some information introduction, such as eating methods, temperature requirements, etc., as the main body of risk communication, the supervisory department should also give consumers some tips to help consumers control the safety of the kitchen." Sun Juanjuan said.

  Cartography/Gao Yue