As SIAL Shenzhen notices, in recent years, as ready-made dishes have been hot in the capital market, there has been a proliferation of ready-made dishes enterprises. Consumers have different attitudes towards prepared dishes regarding food safety and the convenience they bring.

Recently, according to China News Weekly, the draft of the national standard for ready-made dishes has been released, and the final version will be published in half a year at the earliest. One of the biggest highlights is that the addition of preservatives is prohibited, and cold-chain transportation is required. At the same time, the national standard for ready-made dishes may redefine the term ready-made dishes, narrowing the scope of its reference. Although the national standard for ready-made dishes is still "holding the pipa half cover", the two revealed clauses obviously respond to the focus of concerns of the public in recent years.

At present, revealed information of the national standard for ready-made dishes sends two main signals: one is to prohibit the use of preservatives, and emphasize the need for cold chain transportation; Secondly, the scope of ready-made dishes will be narrowed to cut instant food out of the category.

In the past, relevant standards on ready-made dishes were mostly developed by local government and industry entities. For the definition of prepared dishes, the local standards are sometimes inconsistent. Especially in recent years, as they have hit a fever pitch in the capital market, the scope of ready-made dishes has become more difficult to define .

In the industry, ready-made dishes are usually categorized into four types: ready-to-eat (such as eight-treasure congee, ready-to-eat canned food); ready-to-heat (such as frozen dumplings, self-heating hot pot); ready-to-cook (semi-finished dishes that must be heated for cooking); and ready-to-serve (such as washed, pre-cut clean vegetables).

Combined with the regulations revealed in the new national standard, there are still many pieces of the jigsaw puzzle waiting to be filled in for ready-made dishes. For example, does the prohibition of the use of preservatives and the need for cold-chain transportation mean that ready-made dishes can only be frozen food? If only instant food is removed from the ready-made category in the original standard, does it mean that self-heating hot pots, which were originally categorized as ready-made foods, must also be transported in the cold chain instead?

"Actually, self-heating hot pot is a product we prefer to think of as instant food like instant noodles." According to Gui Jiuqiang, self-heating hot pot products do not require the use of open flames and are produced for convenience, more similar to instant noodles. And once the self-heating hot pot is regarded as a prepared dish, the mandatory use of cold chain transportation, will inevitably increase the cost of the product, "so at present the definition of the prepared dish is not yet completely clear, the impact of the national standard of the prepared dish is still difficult to see."

However, the SIAL Shenzhen is generally positive about the introduction of the national standard for prepared dishes. Longda Gourmet Certificate related personnel said that the introduction of the national standard for prepared dishes will help standardize the industry and promote the standardization of the industry. The introduction of the national standard of ready-made, means that the ready-made industry later have a regulatory basis, "there is a law to follow".