Shanghai to Enforce Prepackaged Refrigerated Meals Standard on April 1, Clarifying Labeling and Shelf-Life Rules

As consumption habits shift toward convenience, products such as prepackaged refrigerated meals offer quick meal solutions but also raise food-safety concerns. Shanghai has announced that its product standard for prepackaged refrigerated meals will take effect on April 1.

The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration disclosed on March 17 that prepackaged refrigerated meals are a relatively new category in recent years. At present, five food production enterprises in Shanghai make boxed meals for convenience stores. The range includes boxed meals, rice balls, hand rolls, noodles, and rice noodles sold in convenience-store refrigerated cases. Citywide daily supply exceeds 300,000 portions and continues to grow year by year.

Labeling thresholds for supermarket rice balls and similar items

Ms. Wu is a devoted fan of convenience-store boxed meals and visits stores near her office or home every few days. She finds the curry pork chop rice at FamilyMart tasty and the Taiwanese braised pork rice at 7-Eleven appealing. Referring to FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, C-Store, Haode, and Lawson, she is familiar with the boxed meals in their refrigerated counters and has tried almost all of them with her husband. In her view, the taste is decent, but convenience is the main draw: when she tires of the workplace cafeteria, she can switch flavors, and when the couple at home does not want to cook, they can simply pick one up on the way back.

More white-collar workers are choosing convenience-store boxed meals for lunch, yet questions remain about their safety. Gu Zhenhua, deputy director of the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration, noted that compared with collective boxed meals, convenience-store meals differ in cooking and processing, transportation, and refrigerated sales requirements, and until now there had been no national food safety standard for such meals. The administration therefore revised the 2005 local standard 'Hygienic and Nutritional Requirements for Boxed Meals' and issued 'Prepackaged Refrigerated Meals' and 'Hygienic Specifications for the Production and Operation of Prepackaged Refrigerated Meals'.

At the same time, 'Meals for Collective Catering Distribution' and 'Hygienic Specifications for the Production and Distribution of Meals for Collective Catering Distribution' were also released. Some workplaces without cafeterias order boxed or bucket meals for employees to solve lunch needs, but whether such collectively delivered meals are safe to eat has become a concern for many white-collar workers. Data show that Shanghai currently produces and distributes more than 1 million portions of boxed and bucket meals each day.

It is understood that the two product standards, 'Meals for Collective Catering Distribution' and 'Prepackaged Refrigerated Meals', set requirements for microbial limits, labeling, and shelf life for the two product categories. Their supporting specifications, '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 cover production and processing technology, production sites, facilities and equipment, process control, food sample retention and inspection, food traceability and recall, and hygiene management. In addition, the former also recommends nutritional indicators for student boxed meals.

High food-safety risk in on-site prepared and sold foods

Beyond boxed meals, food prepared and sold on-site in supermarkets will also be subject to rules. The number of such products—fried rice, steamed buns, cakes, sliced salmon, and more—is rising, bringing significant food-safety risks. To address this, 'Hygienic Specifications for the On-Site Preparation and Sale of Ready-to-Eat Food' sets requirements for production and sales premises, facilities and equipment, process control, and hygiene management, and will take effect on October 1 this year.

In recent years, on-site preparation and sale methods, varieties, and technologies have become increasingly diverse. The release of 'Hygienic Specifications for the On-Site Preparation and Sale of Ready-to-Eat Food' revises and improves the 2009 'Basic Hygienic Requirements for On-Site Preparation and Sale in the Food Retail Industry'. The standard applies to shops specializing in 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 such activities. It does not apply to primary processing of edible agricultural products, on-site preparation and sale of drinking water, or vendors engaged in 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