Pre-made food must not use preservatives, and the shelf life should not exceed one year. The national standard for pre-made food is soliciting opinions today.

National Health Commission released the "National Food Safety Standard for Prepared Vegetables" (Draft for Comments) today, and is seeking public opinions on the standard. The food safety standard for prepared vegetables aims to ensure consumer health and promote the high-quality development of the prepared vegetable industry. It focuses on regulations related to food safety and nutrition for prepared vegetable products: On one hand, it strengthens the management of sources and processes, and proposes control measures for possible risk factors and risk links in the entire chain of prepared vegetable production, including raw materials, production and processing, product packaging, storage and transportation, business operations, and sales. On the other hand, for prepared vegetable end products, the standard integrates existing general standards such as "Limits of Contaminants in Foods" for over 10 items, product-specific standards such as "Animal and Aquatic Products" for over 10 items, process-specific standards such as "General Hygiene Standards for Food Production" for over 10 items, as well as food-related product standards and inspection methods for over 10 items, to provide safety control indicators for prepared vegetables with different raw materials and processing methods, facilitating implementation by prepared vegetable production enterprises. The main contents of the standard seeking opinions include: 1. Reasonably defining the definition and management scope of prepared vegetables. Based on the concept of food safety risk analysis and the interpretation of the six departments' "Notice" on prepared vegetable policies, the standard refines and clarifies the concept of prepared vegetables, stating that prepared vegetables do not include staple food products, cleaned vegetable products, ready-to-eat foods, and dishes made in central kitchens. These foods all have corresponding national food safety standards for management. 2. Emphasizing the management of food pollutants and additives. The standard requires control of key risk factors such as lead, chromium, benzo[a]pyrene, and pathogenic microorganisms in prepared vegetable products. It also emphasizes the management of food additives, stipulating the principles for using food additives, requiring a reduction in the use of food additives as much as possible, strict control of the types of food additives that can be used, and no addition of additives unless necessary. 3. Emphasizing the preservation of nutritional quality. The standard requires that the cooking process should avoid overcooking, use advanced technology or equipment to maximize the retention of nutritional nutrients in raw materials, reduce nutrient loss, and control the amount of cooking oil, salt, and sugar added during processing. Additionally, the standard requires production enterprises to consider various factors such as nutritional quality and set shelf life reasonably while ensuring food safety. 4. Making regulations on consumer tips. To ensure that consumers consume correctly, the standard requires clear labeling on the eating methods of pre-prepared cooked products and pre-prepared uncooked or partially cooked products to prevent foodborne diseases caused by insufficient heating of uncooked or partially cooked products, or affecting the nutritional quality and taste of products due to overheating. Why do these types of foods not belong to prepared vegetables? The question of which categories belong to and do not belong to prepared vegetables has always been a focus of public attention. The standard clarifies that prepared vegetables are dishes made from one or more edible plants or their products, with or without seasonings, without additives, and processed through industrial pre-processing (such as stirring, marinating, kneading, forming, frying, baking, boiling, steaming, etc.), with or without seasoning packets, and can be eaten after heating or cooking. Prepared vegetables do not include staple food products, cleaned vegetable products, ready-to-eat foods, and dishes made in central kitchens. According to the drafting experts of the standard, this decision is mainly based on several considerations: 1. Prepared vegetables should have the characteristics of dishes, so the standard excludes staple food products, which also have corresponding national food safety standards for management and regulation. 2. Prepared vegetables should have the characteristic of "industrial pre-processing", and only cleaned, peeled, and sliced processed vegetable products that do not change their basic properties as raw materials belong to the category of food ingredients. Therefore, the standard excludes cleaned vegetable products, which also have corresponding national food safety standards for management and regulation. 3. Prepared vegetables should be eaten after heating or cooking, so the standard excludes foods that are ready-to-eat (such as pre-packaged ham sausage, pickled phoenix claws, etc.) that do not require re-heating or cooking before consumption, ready-to-eat foods have relevant national food safety standards. 4. Prepared vegetables should have the attribute of pre-packaged products. Finished or semi-finished products made in central kitchens are only distributed to their own chain catering outlets, so central kitchens are essentially "internal centralized processing and distribution centers for chain catering" and are equivalent to the kitchen of the outlets. Therefore, dishes made by central kitchens are not included in the category of prepared vegetables (except for central kitchens using externally purchased, industrialized, ready-made prepared vegetable products). Central kitchens must comply with food safety regulations and standards in the catering sector, such as implementing the "National Food Safety Standard Catering Service General Hygiene Standards". Prepared vegetables should have a shelf life of no more than 12 months The standard also specifies the shelf life of prepared vegetables. According to the drafting experts of the standard, the shelf life of food is usually determined by the food production enterprise based on the product characteristics, production processes, ingredient storage conditions, through experimental research and quality evaluation, and is generally not specifically regulated in standards. However, the prepared vegetable safety standard established this time is a special case. The setting of this provision is mainly based on the following three considerations: 1. Meeting public consumption habits and demands. Some consumers are highly concerned about the shelf life of prepared vegetables, and have raised questions about products with excessively long shelf life labels, finding it psychologically difficult to accept. In response to public opinion, the standard has set specific provisions regarding the shelf life of prepared vegetables to meet the general expectations of consumers. 2. Considering the basic attributes of prepared vegetable products. Although prepared vegetables undergo industrial pre-processing, they are still considered dishes, and maximum preservation of flavor and quality is the core demand of consumers for dish-like products. Therefore, to ensure the safety and nutritional quality of prepared vegetable products, the standard's provisions list the factors to be considered when setting the shelf life and encourage enterprises to enhance product quality and flavor through optimization of production processes and storage transportation methods. 3. Based on actual industry investigations. Based on a survey and analysis of parameters such as "pre-processing method-storage method-shelf life" of over 200 companies and more than a thousand commercially available prepared vegetable products, the drafting group of the standard comprehensively considered factors such as public expectations, nutritional quality, flavor, and texture, and required the shelf life of products to be as short as possible, with a maximum length of not exceeding 12 months. Overall, the 12-month limit balances the demands of the public and the practical needs of enterprise production and operation. Clear requirements for the safety of raw materials and production processes The safety of prepared vegetable raw materials is the key to ensuring product safety, mainly focusing on whether corrupt materials, agricultural and animal residues, heavy metals, and other pollutants are used, as well as traceability of raw materials. The standard makes clear provisions, requiring that all used animal products, aquatic products, eggs, grains, edible fungi, starch products, etc., must comply with respective food safety standards, and should not use corrupt and deteriorated materials. Pesticide residues, veterinary drug residues, pollutants, mycotoxins, etc., must meet corresponding quantity management requirements, and should have proof of origin and acceptance to ensure the safety and traceability of raw materials. The production process of prepared vegetables needs to focus on controlling the risk of cross-contamination and temperature control and sanitation management. The standard first requires that the entire production and operation process of prepared vegetables comply with national standards such as "General Hygiene Standard for Food Production" (GB 14881), "General Hygiene Standard for Food Operation" (GB 31621), "General Hygiene Standard for Food Cold Chain Logistics" (GB 31605), etc., and provides more specific requirements based on these standards: 1. Requirements for premises and hardware conditions. To effectively prevent the risk of cross-contamination, the standard specifies requirements such as the division of work areas, the setting of independent areas in the pre-processing workshop, and the avoidance of mixing cleaning facilities and equipment. For example, it specifies that pre-processing workshops that use fresh aquatic products as raw materials should have independent areas for slaughtering/shelling, cleaning, and washing; pre-processing workshops that use fresh fruits and vegetables as raw materials should have separate areas for removing impurities and washing. 2. Management and operational requirements. To strengthen control over key processes in the production process, the standard sets requirements such as recording the thawing of raw materials, feed records, the quality of food contact water, and the storage and outbound management of food additives. For example, it specifies that the center temperature of products at the end of freezing should not be higher than -18C; for products that need to be refrigerated, the center temperature should be between 0C and 10C. Avoid the use of preservatives and minimize the use of food additives The standard also emphasizes the principles for the use of food additives, stating that food additives should not reduce the inherent nutritional value of the food, cover up decay, quality defects in the food or in the processing process, use additives for the purpose of adulteration, or lack of authenticity, evaluate the necessity of additives fully, and minimize the variety and quantity of food additives used as much as possible. Based on this, to guide food enterprises in guaranteeing the safety and nutritional quality of prepared vegetable products through improved processing technologies, reducing reliance on food additives from the technical source point, the standard requires not only the prohibition of preservatives but also the minimization of the variety and quantity of food additives used with strict control. The allowable types of food additives are reduced to those listed in the "National Food Safety Standard Food Additive Usage Standard" (GB 2760), specific to the additive varieties that can be used in various food products in "appropriate quantities according to production needs" (i.e., varieties that do not require a specified limit of usage). Avoid overcooking and focus on preservation effects To better meet the comprehensive nutritional and taste requirements of the public for prepared vegetables, the standard makes clear requirements for nutritional quality: 1. Emphasize the retention and balance of nutrition. The standard requires avoiding overcooking in the cooking process; encourages the use of advanced technology or equipment to maximize the retention of nutrients in raw materials, reduce nutrient loss, meet the safety and nutritional requirements of food, and satisfy consumer sensory quality demands. It advocates following the principle of balanced nutrition and maintaining the nutritional characteristics of dishes through the reasonable combination of different ingredients and appropriate cooking methods. 2. Actively implement the "Three Reduces" requirement. The standard encourages enterprises to control the amount of cooking oil, salt, and sugar used during processing to meet the consumer demand for reducing oil, salt, and sugar. 3. Emphasize the preservation effect and flavor retention. The standard encourages the use of technologies such as modified atmospheric preservation, cold preservation that are conducive to preservation, as well as nutrition and flavor stabilization technologies such as non-thermal processing, encapsulation transportation, to reduce nutrient loss, enhance taste, flavor, texture, and product quality and taste recovery. Ensure packaging safety and compatibility with heating and consumption methods The health and safety of prepared vegetable packaging are also of great concern. To ensure the safety and convenience of prepared vegetable products during production, storage, transportation, sales, and heating/cooking processes, the standard has specific requirements for product packaging: 1. Ensure packaging design and material safety. The standard requires rational packaging design based on the characteristics of prepared vegetable products, selection of packaging technology, and the inner packaging materials should comply with the relevant national standards for food contact materials. The packaging material should have sufficient barrier properties, and the packaging material for frozen products should have sufficient cold resistance to ensure the required flavor and quality of the product. 2. Compatibility with heating and consumption methods. The standard requires that the inner packaging material of products that need to be heated/cooked with packaging should be heat-resistant, non-sticky, non-color changing, and non-deforming when heated. 3. Ensure packaging integrity and sealing. The standard requires the product to have complete packaging without obvious deformation, damage, or breakage. Sealed packaging should be intact, with tight and firm sealing, no breakage, and no leakage. Additionally, the standard encourages the use of environmentally friendly green packaging materials. By using packaging materials that meet the national standards for food safety, this ensures that the packaging is suitable for its intended use (such as whether it can be heated), thus ensuring safety. Detailed labeling requirements to make it clear to consumers at a glance To protect consumer rights and guide consumers in choosing prepared vegetable products, the standard puts forward specific requirements: 1. Requirements for ingredient or finished product content labeling. The standard provides detailed regulations on the labeling of the amount of ingredients or components in prepared vegetable products, allowing consumers to clearly understand the true situation of the product through the label at a glance, which plays a key role in guiding consumers' purchase decisions. 2. Requirements for labeling eating methods. Since some prepared vegetables are only seasoned and marinated, some are semi-cooked and cannot be eaten directly, and some require reheating even though they have been cooked, to help consumers know how prepared vegetables are processed and choose the appropriate subsequent processing and consumption methods, the standard stipulates that the labeling of prepared vegetable products should clearly indicate the methods of consumption. Specifically, pre-prepared cooked products should be labeled "to be reheated or cooked before consumption"; pre-prepared uncooked or partially cooked products should be labeled "to be cooked before consumption". 3. Prompt requirements for packaging materials. Packaging materials that cannot be heated/cooked together with products should also be clearly indicated, ensuring both the consumer's food safety and a clear understanding of how to consume the product. (Reported by CCTV reporter Yang Yang and Shi Yingchun) This article is reproduced from the CCTV News Client, GMTEight editor: Chen Xiaoyi.