Pre-prepared meals are becoming more and more popular. Is it unhealthy to eat them frequently?

Have you heard of pre-prepared meals? There is a rumor that pre-prepared meals are not as nutritious as freshly cooked meals. Is this true?

In recent years, more and more people are used to eating out and ordering takeout. Even if they want to cook at home, it is difficult to do so due to time constraints and poor cooking skills. Some people even joke that other people's cooking skills are both life and art, while my cooking skills are only for survival.

In this context, pre-prepared meals came into being. Whether it is restaurants, take-out or home cooking, they are everywhere. At first, people did not pay much attention to them. Recently, there are more and more opinions about pre-prepared meals on the Internet, and more people think that they are not nutritious. Many people are worried that if they eat pre-prepared meals frequently, it will be unhealthy!

Let’s first talk about what pre-prepared meals are, what are the characteristics of pre-prepared meals, and how big is the market size.

According to the group standard issued by the China Cuisine Association, pre-prepared dishes are semi-finished or finished products made from one or more ingredients as the main raw materials, with or without auxiliary ingredients and seasonings, and processed by washing, cutting, matching, or cooking by frying, deep-frying, baking, boiling, steaming, etc. They can be divided into four categories: ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat, ready-to-cook, and ready-to-match pre-prepared dishes.

The so-called ready-to-eat food, as the name suggests, is food that can be eaten directly after opening, such as braised meat, soaked chicken feet, etc. This kind of food is very suitable for us to take home and eat.

Instant heat type refers to food that can be eaten after simple reheating, such as tomato scrambled eggs, fish-flavored pork shreds, Kung Pao chicken and other fast food meal packages. This type of food is more commonly used in some Chinese fast food restaurants.

Ready-to-cook products are products that have already been processed with the main ingredients and can be eaten with or without auxiliary ingredients after cooking. For example, shrimp paste, quick-frozen dumplings, quick-frozen buns, etc. Those who often go to the supermarket must have seen this type of products. You can simply process them at home.

Ready-to-eat products are products that have been simply processed by washing and cutting, with or without auxiliary materials. If we buy this kind of food, we can save the time of pre-processing, especially those who are not good at knife skills will definitely like it, but it still has high requirements for cooking skills.

From ancient times to the present, we have been cooking and eating freshly prepared food, so why did pre-prepared meals appear?

Although the food categories are different, they all share three common features: the selection of raw materials, the use of tools, facilities and equipment, and the application of techniques and technologies. On this basis, three major categories of food have emerged: "industrial food", "handmade food" and "fast food". With the development of cold chain technology and the rise of takeout, these three categories of food are obviously no longer able to meet the growing demand of the food consumption market.

On the one hand, people's requirements for food have long risen from the low level of "eating enough" to "eating well", and now they are pursuing "eating healthily", and want to enjoy "delicious" food at home that is nutritionally balanced, time-saving, convenient, and has good color, aroma and taste. On the other hand, some restaurants, restaurants, hotels, hotels and other catering companies, especially low- and medium-end restaurants, also need to reduce the working hours of chefs, lower the requirements for the personal technical level of chefs, and shorten the serving time in take-out. Only in this way can the scale benefits of catering companies in time and space be increased. All of the above factors provide a broad market prospect for pre-prepared meals.

Although the concept of pre-prepared meals first appeared in the United States in the mid-20th century and appeared later in my country, it has developed rapidly in less than 20 years. It now basically covers all food fields and the market size will continue to expand in the future.

So, does the nutritional quality of pre-prepared meals really decrease compared to freshly cooked and eaten meals?

The reason why people are worried is that they think pre-prepared food is not fresh food, lacks the aroma of the wok, and the flavor is different from freshly made food, so they think it is not fresh, unsafe, and unhealthy. In fact, these are all wrong understandings.

The picture comes from Tuchong.com

It is indeed necessary to pay attention to the safety of food ingredients. After all, safety is the basis of nutrition. The production of pre-prepared meals also has very strict requirements. Fresh ingredients from the place of origin are produced in a standardized manner. Behind each dish, there are thousands of tests and then industrial research and development. In addition, vacuum preservation technology and cold chain technology are used to safely lock in freshness, which ensures the safety and hygiene of the entire chain. From this perspective, there is no problem with safety, and there will be no problem of illegal additions.

Will there be any loss of nutrients? Yes, there will be. This problem exists not only in pre-prepared meals, but also in any processed food. Even with the best freezing or preservation technology, food will lose nutrients over time after processing, but as long as it is handled properly, the loss is almost always minor. Relevant research has also been done abroad, and data show that most of the nutrients in pre-prepared meals can be preserved. Even the freshly cooked dishes we eat in restaurants actually have the problem of nutrient loss during the processing, and the more complicated the cooking method, the more the loss. What's more, the nutrients retained in the food can already meet our needs, so there is no need to worry too much.

What are the benefits of pre-prepared meals for consumers? Aren’t freshly prepared meals better?

If conditions permit, it is naturally the best choice to cook and eat immediately. However, for consumers who want to eat better but don’t have time, even if they are not good at cooking, they can still make delicious food at home and save a lot of time. I believe many people are still happy to accept this choice. In addition, by using pre-prepared dishes, the catering and takeaway industries can speed up the delivery time and reduce the restaurant’s personnel costs, which will naturally return more profits to consumers. It is a win-win situation for both companies and consumers.

Some people think that only affordable restaurants use pre-prepared meals, but you are wrong. According to a survey, more than 60% of the dishes in many high-end chain restaurants are also pre-prepared meals. This phenomenon shows that there is no distinction between high and low pre-prepared meals, and they are an option that the catering industry is happy to accept.

This article is a work supported by Science Popularization China Starry Sky Project

Author: Zhang Yu

Reviewer: Zhang Na (Associate Researcher, School of Public Health, Peking University)

Produced by: China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Producer: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.