Incorporate meal replacement food into the online food supervision system
The meal replacement food market is becoming more and more popular, often playing "word games", experts call for
□ Our reporter Han Dandong
□ Intern Yang Huijia
In recent years, with the continuous improvement of living standards, more and more people are pursuing a healthier diet and body. Social media is flooded with various meal replacement and fat-reduction products.
Meal replacement foods, also known as meal replacement foods, as the name implies, are foods that replace part or all of the meal.
Common forms include meal replacement powder, meal replacement bar, meal replacement milkshake, meal replacement biscuits, etc., which were initially for patients to eat, and later spread to the weight loss and fitness circles, which quickly set off an upsurge.
According to Euromonitor International data, it is estimated that China's light food meal replacement market will reach 120 billion yuan in 2022.
The reporter of "Rules of Law Daily" learned that as the meal replacement food market becomes increasingly hot, various new types of meal replacement foods have emerged.
In the marketing process, meal replacement food advertisements adopt various methods to capture consumer psychology and attract consumers to buy.
Experts interviewed believe that meal replacement foods are just ordinary foods, and the weight loss effect should not be explicitly stated. Consumers should rationally purchase meal replacement foods.
A wide variety of meal replacement foods
Online sales are very impressive
On the e-commerce platform, there are a wide variety of meal replacement foods with various prices, ranging from a few yuan to a few hundred yuan. Some products are sold hot, but there are consumers who question food safety issues and the authenticity of publicity.
Recently, the reporter searched on several e-commerce platforms using "meal replacement" as the key word and found that although the quality of meal replacement foods is uneven and consumer reviews are mixed, the sales volume is still considerable.
On a certain platform, a product labeled "Tongue Whole Wheat Bread 0 Fat, Oil-Free, No Cane Sugar, Rye Coarse Grain Fitness Meal Replacement, Pulled Bread Slices, Light Biscuits, Cakes, Toasts, Ou Bao, Snacks and Breakfast", has been evaluated over 3 million pieces. The positive reviews reached 530,000+, and the negative reviews were only 4800+.
Most of the praise praised the product's good taste and achieved the fat-reducing effect.
In the negative reviews, some users questioned that the ingredient list does not match the ingredient list on the product detail page, and it contains many unhealthy ingredients.
Another product named "Chicken Breast Instant Fitness Meal Replacement Low Fat Card Light Fitness Meal Instant Chicken Breast Zero Food", some users commented that "the product has swelling bags, quality problems, customer service can not solve".
There are other consumers who have complained of uncomfortable stomach, diarrhea and poor after-sales service. Product titles play "word games" and mislead consumers.
The "White Paper on Chinese People's Light Food Consumption Behavior in 2020" released by the Chinese Nutrition Society in December 2020 shows that most young people consume light food and have a correct understanding and positive behaviors about light food. Most of them are out of weight loss and other reasons. Consumption of light food for health purposes, most of the occupations are ordinary employees and students of enterprises, and those with a bachelor's degree account for the largest proportion of light food consumers.
Look at meal replacement foods rationally
Not suitable for long-term consumption
Why are meal replacement foods so popular as a new thing?
“I tried to lose weight through exercise, but I couldn’t stick to it, and the results were slow, so I wanted to try meal replacement foods.” Xiao Zhen is a senior student at a university in Beijing. She has bought meal replacement foods twice. experience.
The first time was when a lady added WeChat while taking the subway, and the two had a very happy conversation.
Under the introduction of this lady, Xiao Zhen ordered a certain brand of milkshake worth 1,200 yuan at a time.
"That sister said she would be willing to invest in herself, so I bought these milkshakes with my part-time income, but in the end it didn't work." Xiao Zhen said.
Xiaozhen's second purchase of meal replacement food was when she used the Mint Health App to record weight loss data. She accidentally saw the "21 Days 10 Catty Challenge" advertisement for a fat-reducing meal, and placed an order when she was excited.
The original price of this product is 1890 yuan, including 21-day full meal, milkshakes and protein bars. After purchase, you can join the corresponding community, and someone will supervise the check-in every day.
"This meal replacement is equivalent to 60 yuan a day after using up the coupon, and ordering takeout every day is about this price. I thought it was quite appropriate at the time." Xiaozhen said, but after actual operation, she often feels that she is not full and she is losing weight. Besides, I can’t help but buy fruits, snacks or other meals. The community she joined is usually less active and is more like a weight loss advertising group. "Never buy this kind of meal replacement food again. ".
“Nowadays, a large amount of content related to weight loss and meal replacements on the Internet is actually all micro-businesses selling their own meal replacement foods under the guise of consumers. The real voice of user feedback is difficult to hear.” Long-term commitment to weight loss Ms. Li, a Tianjin citizen from Tianjin, told reporters, “I always read the long weight-loss counterattacks sincerely, but when I finally find out, the author will leave a WeChat account saying that everyone is welcome to contact her to buy meal replacement foods. "
For some meal replacement foods that claim that they do not go hungry or exercise, they can lose weight every day. Zhang Nengwei, director of the Weight Loss Center of Beijing Shijitan Hospital, said that meal replacement foods must not be eaten as meals, because meal replacements cannot contain all the nutrients. Material, long-term consumption, the biggest change is likely to be the skin becomes rough, or even hair loss.
Some meal replacement foods may also contain illegal drugs, which is even more harmful.
Therefore, some cases of "meal replacement food as a meal, causing health problems" are often reported in the news.
Urgent need to improve industry standards
Guide the public to lose weight scientifically
To cater to consumers' weight loss needs, many beverages like to use "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories", "low sugar, low fat, and low calorie" as their advertising slogans. The same is true for meal replacement foods.
According to Zhu Yi, an associate professor at the School of Food Science and Technology of China Agricultural University, if the fat and sugar content of each 100ml of beverage is less than or equal to 0.5g, it can be marked as "zero fat" and "zero sugar". The energy per 100ml of beverage is lower than Or equal to 4 calories to mark "zero card".
Therefore, the "zero" of sugar substitute beverages does not actually mean nothing at all.
It is understood that many meal replacement foods do not use sucrose, but use sucralose.
Zhu Yi said that sucralose is an artificial sugar substitute. So far, the scientific community has not reached a consensus on the health risks of sugar substitutes, but clinical observations have found that long-term consumption of sucralose has an effect on insulin sensitivity.
Diabetes patients are not encouraged to take artificial sugar substitutes for a long time.
Talking about the "word game" often played in the promotion of meal replacement foods, attorney Wu Qijun, director of the Civil Professional Committee of the Chongqing Lawyers Association and founding partner of Chongqing Zhongshi Law Firm, said that the various meal replacement foods are "counterfeit big names". Some do not even have basic information such as heat meters, and the quality is worrying.
When selling online, businesses often try their best to promote the magical weight loss effect, claiming that they can completely replace food. Such exaggerated publicity may violate the Advertising Law, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and the Consumer Rights Protection Law, and constitute false advertising and false publicity.
Wu Qijun suggested that industry standards should be improved and market supervision should be strengthened, and the standards for the content of various nutrients in meal replacement foods should be clearly stipulated to ensure that meal replacement foods have sufficient nutrients; further increase the popularization of health knowledge and guide consumers to purchase rationally Meal replacement foods, scientific weight loss; strengthen the management of online sales platforms, and incorporate meal replacement foods into the online food supervision system.