"30 minutes a table dish" "everyone can be a chef easily"... During the National Day holiday, the pre-made dishes developed by many catering companies and e-commerce platforms are selling hot, delicious and easy-
Are pre-cooked dishes your healthy choice?
Just open an e-commerce app, enter pre-made dishes, instant dishes, and fast-hand dishes, and a lot of dish information will pop up: fish-flavored pork shredded pork, pork with plum vegetables, cumin lamb chops, vegetable spring rolls... alluring pictures , the price ranges from a dozen to dozens of yuan, and there are "100,000+" comments under the link. Different brands of web pages are one after another. It seems that overnight, pre-made dishes have become a regular item in many consumers' shopping carts. .
Pre-made dishes are convenient, but can they be delicious and healthy while enjoying the convenience?
Can it meet people's high nutritional needs?
The reporter interviewed relevant experts in this regard.
Whether it is delicious or not, you will know after you taste it
According to the standards issued by the China Cuisine Association, pre-prepared dishes are “with one or more agricultural products as the main raw materials, using standardized assembly operations, pre-processed (such as cutting, stirring, pickling, tumbling, molding, seasoning, etc.) and or pre-cooked (such as frying, frying, roasting, boiling, steaming, etc.) and pre-packaged finished or semi-finished dishes”.
Fan Zhihong, a professor at the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, School of Food Science, China Agricultural University, introduced: "Prepared vegetable products are divided into four types: ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat, ready-to-cook, and ready-to-mix. Ready-to-eat products are products that can be eaten directly after opening. The products are cooked or semi-cooked after cooking and can be eaten after simple reheating. The ready-to-cook products have completed a certain processing process of the main raw materials and are edible after cooking. The ready-to-cook products are washed , cutting and other simple processing, products that can be used in dishes immediately.”
Whether pre-made dishes are delicious or not, you may only know if you taste them yourself.
Everyone's taste preferences are different, and even the same dish has mixed reviews.
Taking a certain brand of small crispy meat as an example, some people say that "the sweet potato flour on the outside is chewy, and the meat inside is delicious", and some people say "the powder is thick, the meat smells, and the peppercorns are actually whole."
After the actual experience, I can taste that the taste of pre-made dishes and home-cooked dishes are not the same.
Why can pre-made dishes taste like home cooking can't?
Fan Zhihong explained that the chefs are involved in the research and development process of pre-made dishes, and the rich seasonings make the pre-made dishes rich in taste.
There may be seven or eight or more spices in a pre-made dish, such as cardamom, thyme, rosemary, basil, etc. Usually, cooking at home does not require so many spices.
However, experts pointed out that the richness of the taste of pre-made dishes is not completely related to additives, because many spices are natural. Although there are additives in fish sauce, soy sauce and other seasonings, they are also used in home cooking.
There is also a difference between pre-cooked dishes and those that are prepared and sold in restaurants.
The reporter learned in the interview that many factors such as the production process, freezing technology and reheating methods will affect the taste of pre-made dishes.
An organization has conducted sensory evaluations on more than 50 products from different manufacturers in terms of aroma, taste, and comparison before and after cooking. The results show that under the condition that different dishes have different taste reduction degrees, the taste reduction degree of meat dishes is higher than that of fish and shrimp. The taste reduction degree of boiled products is higher than that of fried products.
According to Zhang Chunhui, chief scientist of the innovation team of the Institute of Agricultural Products Processing, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, there is a quality gap between the products that chefs make and sell and industrialized products. A key technology needs to be overcome.
The first is the "boiler gas" problem.
"Boiler gas" refers to the aroma of ingredients produced through thermal reactions, and industrialization requires analysis and reduction of the process of flavor formation; the second is the quick-freezing and fresh-keeping technology.
At present, root vegetable products such as peppers and green bamboo shoots can achieve green and shape retention, but some green leafy vegetables need to be broken through in green and shape retention technology; the third is the method of reheating.
According to the product instructions, the quality recovery of well-made pre-made dishes can reach 80% to 90%.
"More salt and more oil" is also a problem that consumers report more.
In this regard, Yang Xiaoguang, vice chairman of the Chinese Nutrition Society, pointed out that this is a market behavior.
"The market needs to meet the demand. The taste with more salt and more oil is often more attractive to consumers. If a company produces less oil and less salt, the sales volume will be low and no money will be made. Therefore, the most important thing is to cultivate consumers' consumption preferences. "
Fan Zhihong also reminded that a day's meals are made up of a variety of foods, and one food cannot determine the quality of a meal.
The problems of ready-to-eat ready-to-heat pre-cooked dishes with less vegetables and more salt and more oil can be solved by matching foods with less oil and less salt.
Nutrients are lost, but it does not mean that there is no nutrition
Are there any nutrients in prepared dishes?
Is it healthy to eat prepared dishes?
This is a topic of concern to many consumers.
Wang Chen, who works in Beijing, often eats pre-made dishes. She is worried that the process of reheating and freezing may cause the loss of nutrients, and the additives in it will also have adverse effects on health.
"After the prefabricated vegetables are heat-processed, the lost nutrients are mainly vitamins and a small amount of minerals in the vegetables, and there is no great loss of dietary fiber. As long as the meat products are fresh and of good quality, the loss of protein after heating is not a problem. A lot." said Xu Yingxia, deputy chief physician of the Clinical Nutrition Department of Beijing Tiantan Hospital.
"In fact, whether it is home cooking or factory processing, it will cause the loss of nutrients. For example, heating will cause the loss of vitamin C. If you cook vegetables, you will lose 20% to 30% of vitamin C or even less. If the stew is very bad, the loss will exceed half. .Frying and breaking will cause oxidative loss, the cells of the vegetable will be destroyed, and the air will directly contact the nutrients in the cells, which will cause the loss of carotene, anthocyanin, etc." Fan Zhihong introduced, in theory, and using high-quality fresh natural Compared with food that is reasonably prepared on the spot and eaten immediately, the nutritional value of food that is stored at room temperature or frozen for several months after preparation will decrease to a certain extent.
And after doing it, heating it again should cause more nutrient loss than heating it once.
But it cannot be generalized.
Fan Zhihong told reporters: "If done well, prefabricated dishes can also have a higher nutrient preservation rate; if not done well, even on-site processing will result in a higher loss rate of nutrients."
"Pre-processed ingredients do not necessarily have nutritional value." Fan Zhihong explained that research data from various countries proves that reasonably frozen ingredients can still preserve most of the nutrients.
Therefore, in European and American dietary guidelines, frozen vegetables and fresh vegetables are classified as one category, and consumers are also encouraged to eat them.
For example, frozen green peas, green beans, carrots, sweet corn kernels, etc., have become part of daily cooking ingredients and are used in homes, restaurants, and canteens.
Ingredients such as canned tomatoes, canned mushrooms, and canned baby corn are also often found in various restaurant dishes.
"Those quick-frozen shredded meat, fish fillets, shrimps, etc. that have been processed and can be put into the pot after opening the bag are no more nutrient loss than buying frozen fish and frozen meat and cooking it at home." Fan Zhihong said.
The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" recommends that people have vegetables in their meals and ensure that they consume no less than 300 grams of fresh vegetables per day. Obviously, this is difficult to achieve when only eating pre-made vegetables.
To this end, Fan Zhihong suggested, "When eating pre-made dishes, you can mix vegetables by yourself. You can eat tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, etc. raw without cooking conditions. You can also use simple cooking tools to steam pumpkin, green vegetables, etc. at home. Fresh vegetables can be eaten in minutes.”
"Prefabricated dishes are preserved by sterilization. The prefabricated dishes are packaged in composite film aluminum bags. The bacteria inside have been killed, and the bacteria outside cannot get in. Without microorganisms, there will be no spoilage, so there is no need for the public to worry. But As for the safety of each product, it depends on whether the quality of its ingredients is stable, whether the production management is strict, and whether the process parameters are reasonable." Fan Zhihong introduced, just like when we order food on the spot in a restaurant, we can't determine whether it is enough. Safety depends on the quality of the raw materials in the store, whether the store's management of kitchen hygiene is strict, and whether the chef's operation is in place.
There may also be a concern that pre-cooked dishes, like leftovers, will be stored for a long time and will produce carcinogens?
Fan Zhihong said: "Nitrite is the result of microbial activity. The nitrite in fresh green leafy vegetables is as low as a few milligrams per kilogram, which is negligible from the perspective of food safety. However, during unreasonable storage, the nitrite in plants Nitrate reductase reduces nitrate to nitrite. The cooking process kills enzymes in plants, but some microorganisms also reduce nitrate to nitrite. Nitrite can be synthesized with protein breakdown products in the stomach and cause cancer Therefore, whether food spoilage or too much nitrite is mainly caused by microorganisms. Therefore, in food processing, the top priority is to fight against bacteria. Sterilization treatment and sealed packaging can So that the microorganisms inside the dishes are killed, and the microorganisms outside cannot enter. As long as the microorganisms do not exceed the standard, pre-made dishes will not produce nitrite during storage. Open the package and heat it before eating, although the air and tableware also contain A small amount of bacteria, but before the bacteria over-proliferate, before it produces nitrite, the vegetable is eaten, so there is no need to worry about the nitrite problem.”
Convenience is the core competitiveness, the choice depends on the life scene
To cook by yourself, you not only need a cooking venue and various cooking utensils, but also prepare food, oil, rice noodles, meat, poultry, eggs, milk and other ingredients. After washing, cutting, stewing and frying, it often takes an hour or two.
Can the convenience of prepared dishes fill their nutritional "deficiencies"?
The reporter's investigation found that due to the different degrees of preprocessing, different types of prefabricated dishes require different degrees of complexity of secondary processing.
Ready-to-eat pre-made dishes can be eaten directly. The secondary processing method of ready-to-eat pre-made dishes is relatively simple, while ready-to-cook and ready-to-cook pre-made dishes are relatively troublesome and require certain cooking skills.
Especially for ready-to-cook pre-cooked dishes, you still need to mix and handle the ingredients yourself, which will take longer.
Some studies have shown that dishes that require simple stir-frying can be completed in a few minutes, while dishes with complex processes take about half an hour or more. The six dishes, from thawing the ingredients, preparing the side dishes, to making the fire, take nearly half an hour. Two hours, there is a certain gap with the "20 minutes one table dish" that some businesses say.
But compared to cooking complex dishes from start to finish, ready-to-cook, ready-to-cook pre-made dishes do save a lot of time.
It is for this reason that New Year's Eve has also become the main consumption scene of pre-made dishes.
"In the past two years, for the New Year's Eve dinner, I have bought semi-finished dishes, steamed and fried, and I can make a dish in 10 minutes. With two or three home-cooked dishes, I can cook a year for 6 people in about 2 hours. Evening dinner. In the past few years, a large family gathered together for New Year's Eve dinner. Usually, after lunch, they would start busy with the New Year's Eve dinner. Except for the elderly and children, no one could be idle." Jiang Guiying, 58, said that although pre-made dishes are available The taste is not satisfactory, but it does make the New Year's Eve "simplified".
"If you want to talk about the role of pre-made dishes, it actually gives me one more choice. If you want to be fast, you can eat self-heating hot pot, which can be eaten in 10 minutes. When I want to change the taste, I order takeout, but from ordering to It takes at least half an hour to eat. If I have time, I will cook a dish by myself. It doesn’t take long, but cleaning up the kitchen is more troublesome.” Wang Chen said that she depends on the time first, then “lazy or not”, and usually eats more Simple, she sometimes cooks a big meal on a whim on weekends, and the existence of pre-made dishes allows her to switch between fast and slow.
“Given the huge public demand for efficient catering, it is expected that the market for prepared dishes will only grow. As consumers, we will wait for the industry to have sufficient market competition, and then more and better products will emerge to satisfy We have high requirements for convenience, deliciousness, safety and nutrition." Fan Zhihong said.
"Deliciousness is the premise for the rapid development of prefabricated dishes, convenience is the core competitiveness of prefabricated dishes, food safety is the foundation and guarantee, and nutrition is the pursuit of the prefabricated food industry." In Wang Chunhui's view, the home kitchen, prefabricated dishes and the catering industry are the three Each track should perform its own responsibilities, learn from each other, and jointly solve the food problem on the table.
(Reporter Li Qi of this newspaper)