From the fields to the people's tables, it is the "guardian knight" of pre-prepared meals

Have you ever eaten pre-prepared meals?

Do you like pre-made meals?

In recent years, China's pre-prepared food industry has developed rapidly. According to the "2023 China Pre-prepared Food Industry Development Blue Book", the scale of China's pre-prepared food market reached 516.5 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 23.1%. It is expected to exceed 1072 billion yuan by 2026. The entire industry is in a period of rapid growth. Pickled fish, spicy crayfish, Kung Pao chicken, and preserved pork with preserved vegetables are all common specialties of pre-prepared meals.

However, consumers have mixed feelings about pre-prepared meals.

Some people like its convenience

Some people dislike it because it lacks "wok flavor"

Some people are concerned about its food safety.

In the rapid development stage

Pre-prepared meals do have a generalized product range

Problems such as insufficient technology and inconsistent production standards

On March 18, 2024, the State Administration for Market Regulation, together with six other ministries including the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, jointly issued the "Notice on Strengthening Food Safety Supervision of Pre-prepared Meals to Promote High-quality Development of the Industry", which clearly stated that pre-prepared meals must develop with high quality because they have positive significance in promoting the deep processing of agricultural products, transformation of the food industry, consumption upgrading, entrepreneurship and employment. At the same time, it is more clear that preservatives are not allowed to be added to pre-prepared meals, and the entire chain from production to consumption must strictly comply with freezing and refrigeration requirements to ensure food safety.

In other words, if pre-prepared meals that do not contain preservatives want to be served on people’s tables in the future, they will be inseparable from the “escort” of the cold chain. The cold chain will become the “guardian knight” of pre-prepared meals from the “fields” and “processing workshops” to the “people’s tables”.

Keep safe

Pre-prepared meals have extremely high temperature requirements. Since they are extremely rich in nutrients such as protein and fat , the fresh raw materials must be guaranteed a "non-broken chain" from the field to the workshop, and the pre-prepared meals must be guaranteed from the factory to the consumer.

If any link in the process causes a "chain break" or "cooling out" problem, such as the cold chain temperature is not low enough, the refrigeration equipment is intermittently shut down during transportation, or the transportation is too long , it will not only cause the loss of nutrients in the dishes and deformation of their appearance, but will also breed bacteria, affecting food safety and reducing consumer confidence.

Schematic diagram of the cold chain of pre-prepared food

The entire cold chain of pre-prepared meals requires starting from pre-cooling of fresh agricultural products at the place of production, with various refrigeration and freezing facilities and equipment as the basic guarantee. Close cooperation of all links can ensure the integrity of the cold chain, and the cold chain ensures the safety of pre-prepared meals.

Lock in the freshness and quality

Whether pre-prepared dishes can restore the deliciousness of the original dishes is the biggest test faced by pre-prepared food companies, and it is also the ultimate test of whether consumers can accept pre-prepared dishes. At this time, the cold chain can also help, helping pre-prepared dishes lock in the freshness and quality.

For example, in the freezing process of pre-prepared dishes, liquid nitrogen quick freezing and freshness locking technology can be used. Liquid nitrogen is an ultra-low temperature refrigerant that is non-toxic and harmless. It vaporizes after contacting food and can quickly reduce the temperature of the center of the food to -18°C to complete quick freezing.

More importantly, when the temperature drops rapidly, the water molecules inside and outside the food cells will generate countless evenly distributed tiny crystals, which will not pierce the cell membrane of the food and can maintain the integrity of the food's microstructure. After thawing, the loss of food cell fluid is minimal, which can preserve the original taste, flavor and nutrition of the food to the greatest extent[1]. In addition, future exploration of new technologies such as magnetic oscillation rapid freezing technology, low-temperature and high-humidity electrostatic thawing technology, and condensation control technology[2] will further achieve the goal of restoring the flavor of pre-prepared food ingredients.

For example, in an efficient and intelligent cold chain logistics system, by using information technologies such as blockchain and the Internet of Things, the shortest link and optimal configuration from production to consumption can be achieved, and pre-prepared meals can be guaranteed to remain fresh when they are delivered to customers.

Improve utilization efficiency

“Guardian Knight” cold chain has done so much for pre-prepared meals, so what can pre-prepared meals do for the cold chain?

Pre-prepared meals may help break the cold chain dilemma of traditional agricultural products. Compared with developed countries, the construction of cold chain logistics infrastructure for agricultural products in my country has always been weak, and cold chain resources are unevenly distributed in time and space.

At the same time, the diversity and seasonality of agricultural products require and standardize different operations in the cold chain pre-cooling, packaging, warehousing and transportation links, resulting in low utilization rate of cold chain facilities and high cold chain costs in my country. It is difficult for agricultural products to maintain a cold chain throughout the entire process, which leads to serious losses of fresh fruits and vegetables. Every year, my country suffers a loss of about 12 million tons of fruit and 130 million tons of vegetables due to cold chain "breaks".

After fresh agricultural products are made into pre-prepared dishes, standardization will be greatly improved. Regular packaging is conducive to batch packaging, forklift loading and unloading, warehousing and transportation, and is also conducive to digital management such as tracking and tracing[3]. This will help improve the operational efficiency of the cold chain and further promote the standardization of my country's food cold chain operations and management.

Written by: Wang Xinyi, student member of Beijing Refrigeration Society, master student of School of Agriculture and Rural Development, Renmin University of China

Reviewer: Li Jiajie, Director of Beijing Refrigeration Society, Associate Professor of the School of Agriculture and Rural Development, Renmin University of China

References:

[1] Wu Rong. How can powerful cold chain logistics help pre-prepared meals stay fresh? | Dissecting pre-prepared meals [EB/OL]. https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20230930A0106500. [2024-04-23].

[2] China General Chamber of Commerce, Trade, Logistics and Supply Chain Branch, National Pre-prepared Meals Supply Chain Service Platform. New opportunities for China's pre-prepared meals cold chain logistics from the perspective of global pre-prepared meals development. Logistics Technology and Application. 2023, 28(10): 88-91.

[3] Kuang Hongyun, Hao Hao, You Shisheng, Su Xing. Research progress on the development of pre-prepared food cold chain enabled by digital twins

[J/OL]. Modern Food Science and Technology. https://doi.org/10.13982/j.mfst.1673-9078.2024.6.0359.

Editor: Dong Xiaoxian