Product Standard for 'Prepackaged Refrigerated Meals' to Be Implemented Soon

[ppzhan Abstract] With economic development, people are increasingly accustomed to buying convenient products, such as boxed meals in convenience stores. While solving the problem of food and clothing for people, these have also brought safety hazards. Recently, Shanghai announced that it would implement the "Prepackaged Refrigerated Meals" product standard starting from April 1.

The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration revealed on March 17 that prepackaged refrigerated meals are a new phenomenon in recent years, and there are currently 5 food production enterprises in Shanghai producing boxed meals for convenience stores. These include boxed meals, rice balls, hand rolls, noodles, rice noodles and others sold in convenience stores, with a daily supply of more than 300,000 portions citywide, and the number is increasing year by year.

Thresholds for labeling of supermarket rice balls

Ms. Wu is a super fan of convenience store boxed meals and goes to convenience stores near her workplace and home to "forage" every few days. "The curry pork chop rice at FamilyMart is delicious, and the Taiwanese braised pork rice at 7-Eleven also tastes good." FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, C-Store, Haode, Lawson - when it comes to boxed meals in convenience stores, Ms. Wu knows them all by heart. She and her husband have eaten almost all the boxed meals in the refrigerated counters of convenience stores. "They taste pretty good, mainly because they are convenient. When I get tired of the cafeteria at work, I come here for a change of taste, and when the two of us at home don't feel like cooking, we just pick one up on the way home."

More and more white-collar workers are starting to get a boxed meal at convenience stores. But is this boxed meal safe? Many white-collar workers also have a small question mark in their hearts. Gu Zhenhua, deputy director of the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration, admitted frankly that compared with collective boxed meals, the cooking and processing methods, transportation, and refrigerated sales requirements for convenience store boxed meals are all different. And so far, there is no national food safety standard for boxed meals in convenience stores. To this end, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration revised the local standard "Hygienic and Nutritional Requirements for Boxed Meals" formulated in 2005 and issued the standards "Prepackaged Refrigerated Meals" and "Hygienic Specifications for the Production and Operation of Prepackaged Refrigerated Meals".

In addition, "Meals for Collective Catering Distribution" and "Hygienic Specifications for the Production and Distribution of Meals for Collective Catering Distribution" were also released at the same time. Where there is no cafeteria in a workplace, some enterprises have custom-ordered boxed meals and bucket meals for their employees collectively, which has also successfully solved the lunch problem. However, are collectively distributed boxed meals safe to eat, or should one "turn a blind eye" while eating them? This has also become a "worry" for many white-collar workers. One set of data shows that at present the city produces and distributes more than 1 million portions of boxed meals and bucket meals every day.

It is reported that the two product standards "Meals for Collective Catering Distribution" and "Prepackaged Refrigerated Meals" respectively specify the microbial limits, labeling and shelf life requirements for the two types of products. The two supporting specification standards, "Hygienic Specifications for the Production and Distribution of Meals for Collective Catering Distribution" and "Hygienic Specifications for the Production and Operation of Prepackaged Refrigerated Meals", respectively specify requirements for the production and processing technology, production sites, facilities and equipment, process control, food sample retention and inspection, food traceability and recall, and hygiene management of collectively distributed meals and prepackaged refrigerated meals. In addition, "Hygienic Specifications for the Production and Distribution of Meals for Collective Catering Distribution" also specifies recommended nutritional indicators for student boxed meals.

High risk of food made and sold on the spot

In addition to boxed meals, food made and sold on the spot in supermarkets will also have rules to follow. There is an increasing amount of food made and sold on the spot, including fried rice, steamed buns, cakes, sliced salmon... the food safety risk is very high. To this end, "Hygienic Specifications for the On-Site Preparation and Sale of Ready-to-Eat Food" specifies requirements for the production and sales premises, facilities and equipment, process control and hygiene management of ready-to-eat food, and will be implemented from October 1 this year.

In recent years, the methods, varieties and technologies of on-site preparation and sale have shown a trend of diversification. The release of "Hygienic Specifications for the On-Site Preparation and Sale of Ready-to-Eat Food" will be a revision and improvement of the "Basic Hygienic Requirements for On-Site Preparation and Sale in the Food Retail Industry" released in 2009. It is reported that this standard applies to shops specializing in the on-site preparation and sale of ready-to-eat food, food preparation areas in supermarkets, shops and markets, and areas in catering units dedicated to the on-site preparation and sale of food, but does not apply to the primary processing of edible agricultural products and the on-site preparation and sale of drinking water, nor to vendors engaged in the on-site preparation and sale of food.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-361814.html