Representative members provide suggestions for the prepared vegetable industry
Promulgate national standards for prepared dishes as soon as possible to improve industry entry barriers
□ Our reporter Zhao Chenxi
As people's pace of life accelerates, prepared dishes, as a kind of convenient food, have gradually become the "new favorite" of the consumer market, and have even begun to "appear" on the New Year's Eve dinner table.
Relevant professional organizations predict that the scale of China's prepared vegetable market will exceed one trillion yuan in 2026.
This year's National Two Sessions, the development of the prepared vegetable industry has also become a hot topic focused by delegates.
From this, common industry issues such as the lack of industry standards and the protection of consumers’ right to know have become the focus of heated discussions.
Accelerate the introduction of national standards
The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting Key Works of Rural Revitalization in 2023" clearly stated that it is necessary to cultivate and develop the prepared vegetable industry.
According to Ding Zuohong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the board of directors of Yuexing Group, the current discussion on the prepared vegetable industry is not limited to the meaning of its existence, but to the regulation of the industry and the scale of its promotion.
"We need to develop prepared dishes in an orderly manner within a reasonable range, rather than letting them spread and grow wildly." Ding Zuohong believes that the fundamental reason why the development of prepared dishes is currently in trouble and industry chaos is frequent is the lack of unified national standards.
Zhang Jianming, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of Sichuan Mingyu Group Co., Ltd., found after investigation that the current national norms and standards for the prepared vegetable industry have not yet been established, resulting in extremely low market entry barriers and many practitioners but uneven quality.
Not only is it difficult to guarantee product quality, but there are also problems such as counterfeiting and imitation, no identification information, or raw materials that cannot be traced.
"It is necessary to introduce a national unified standard for prepared dishes as soon as possible to standardize and improve the industry's entry threshold." Ding Zuohong suggested that the standardization administrative department should form a national unified standard as soon as possible for the entire link and chain of prepared dishes such as production, transportation, certification, and traceability. .
In view of the current low entry threshold for the prepared vegetable industry, it is recommended that the processing and sales of prepared vegetables be included in the specialized industrial and commercial scope, standardize and improve the industry entry threshold, so that people can "buy with confidence and eat with confidence."
Zhang Jianming also called on relevant departments to introduce national industry norms and standards for prepared dishes as soon as possible, which should cover production and processing, transportation and sales, catering services and other links to ensure that production and operation activities comply with food safety regulations and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Zhang Jianming believes that in the production and processing of prepared vegetables, the qualification requirements of production entities should be clarified, the production process and quality control should be standardized, and a strict raw material procurement and inspection system should be established to ensure reliable sources of product raw materials.
A complete cold chain transportation and storage system should be established in the transportation and sales links to ensure the freshness and taste of prepared dishes.
Wan Li, a deputy to the National People's Congress and vice president of the All-China Lawyers Association, who is also concerned about the development of the prepared vegetable industry, suggested that unified national standards should be established around the entire process of raw material selection, production, processing, packaging, transportation, storage and quality testing of prepared dishes. It was also specifically proposed that the use of food additives in prepared dishes should be strictly restricted.
Establish an advance notification system
Prepared dishes that can be eaten simply by heating or stir-frying are widely used by many catering companies because they can greatly save time and labor costs.
According to the "2022 China Chain Catering Industry Report" released by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, about 85% of prepared dishes eventually flow to consumers' tables from dine-in and takeout channels.
But another major problem caused by this is that it is difficult to protect consumers' right to know.
According to a survey released by the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission in 2023, 78.1% of respondents reported that restaurants use pre-prepared dishes without notifying consumers in advance.
In this regard, Li Wenhui, deputy to the National People's Congress and deputy director of the equipment department of Baishan Jidian Energy Development Co., Ltd. of the State Power Investment Corporation Jiden Co., Ltd. pointed out that according to the relevant provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, catering operators and takeaway platforms have not yet determined whether pre-prepared dishes are used. Make it clear to consumers that using ready-made dishes as freshly prepared dishes may be suspected of false advertising and consumer fraud.
Therefore, there is a need to promote public disclosure of the use of prepared dishes in the catering industry.
The Consumer Rights Protection Law clearly stipulates that consumers have the right to know and choose. Consumers must know in advance whether the dishes are pre-made.
Wanli suggested establishing an advance notification system for the use of pre-prepared dishes, and passing legal regulations to clarify that merchants using pre-prepared dishes should fulfill their notification obligations to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
"When the law has not yet clearly stipulated that merchants need to notify consumers in advance when using prepared dishes, in order to reduce costs and avoid risks, most merchants will not proactively inform consumers." Therefore, according to Pi Jianlong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of Beijing Jintai Law Firm, Pi Jianlong In the future, it will be crucial to establish a mechanism to protect consumers’ right to know about prepared dishes.
He pointed out that it is necessary to clearly stipulate the notification method and notification content of merchants. Merchants should proactively inform consumers through in-store announcements, menus and other carriers; the notification content should be comprehensive and clearly indicate supplier status, preservatives, shelf life, allergens and additives, etc.
In addition, Pi Jianlong suggested that regulatory authorities should strengthen supervision and inspection of consumers' right to know about prepared dishes, and establish a convenient consumer complaint handling mechanism to respond in a timely manner and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Prudent implementation in special places
Last year, the issue of whether prepared dishes could be introduced into schools sparked heated discussions among parents. The head of the relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Education told the media that they should be very cautious about "prepared dishes entering schools" and should not promote them in schools.
Many members also pointed out that although the prepared vegetable industry has broad market development prospects, it should be cautious before entering primary and secondary school campuses before national standards are introduced.
Yu Ruifen, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of Shanghai Laiyifen Co., Ltd., suggested that prepared vegetable products can only enter commodity markets where consumers have the right to actively choose, but not markets where consumers have passive choices, such as school canteens, staff canteens, nursing homes, etc. .
Ding Zuohong agreed.
He believes that as an emerging thing, prepared dishes can be reasonably applied in certain fields and occasions, but their overpopulation should be prevented.
Especially before the unified national standard is formed, pre-prepared dishes should not be rashly promoted among vulnerable groups such as school students and the elderly in the community. The introduction of pre-prepared dishes into schools or communities must be treated with caution and the quality must be strictly controlled.
The industrialization of prepared vegetables is inevitable for the fast-paced development of society, diversified consumption, rural revitalization and the development of the food industry. The prepared vegetable industry is also a "full chain industry" where the front-end raw materials are in the fields and the back-end is consumed in the mouth.
According to Zhao Wanping, deputy to the National People's Congress and vice president of the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in order to achieve healthy development of the prepared vegetable industry in the future, it is necessary to promote the integrated development of the entire industrial chain of prepared dishes, including the production of front-end agricultural raw materials and the deep-seated production of intermediate agricultural products. Fine processing, catering food processing logistics, back-end catering food market consumption and supply, etc., achieve deep integration of the entire industry chain.
In the current situation of rapid development of prepared dishes, Zhao Wanping suggested that prepared vegetable production companies should pay more attention to product quality improvement and regard quality improvement as the core competitiveness of the market.
While formulating product quality standards, enterprises must also strengthen full-process inspection and testing, full-process monitoring and traceability, and full-process quality assurance to achieve quality in the industrial chain and effectively protect the safety of the public.