Be careful not to let the pre-made menu turn into a hospital registration form!

Since when, people are no longer obsessed with foreign fast food. A delicious Chinese meal with a combination of meat and vegetables will undoubtedly calm the mind of office workers who have been working hard all day. Therefore, a new type of "fast food" has become popular almost overnight, that is, pre-prepared meals. Various Internet celebrity pre-prepared meals not only appear in families through the developed express delivery network, but also appear in Chinese fast food restaurants and even ordinary Chinese restaurants. During the Spring Festival in 2025, the sales of pre-prepared meals broke the sales record of previous years and became the new favorite on the New Year's Eve dinner table. But is it a convenient delicacy, a savior for office workers to maintain a perfect family life? Or a killer with hidden health risks? There is no way to argue between the pros and cons. Next, let's spend a few minutes to discuss the matter, understand the advantages of pre-prepared meals, analyze its disadvantages, and prevent pre-prepared menus from turning into hospital registration forms.

Image source: Pixabay

1. What exactly are pre-prepared meals?

On March 18, 2024, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments jointly issued the "Notice on Strengthening Food Safety Supervision of Pre-prepared Dishes to Promote High-quality Development of the Industry", which clearly defined pre-prepared dishes: Pre-prepared dishes, also known as pre-prepared dishes, are dishes made from one or more edible agricultural products and their products through industrial pre-processing processes such as mixing, pickling, rolling, shaping, stir-frying, deep-frying, baking, boiling and steaming. These dishes can be served with or without seasoning packets and can be eaten after simple heating or cooking.

2. Potential hazards of pre-prepared meals

Due to their high water content and complex nutritional components, pre-prepared meals are extremely susceptible to microbial contamination during storage [1], causing oxidation and deterioration. Food safety issues have become a key challenge for the development of the industry [2-3], which are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

Abuse of additives: According to regulations, the use of additives in pre-prepared food products or semi-finished products must comply with the "National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives" (GB2760-2024) and relevant regulations. However, industry standards have not yet been fully unified. In order to reduce costs, some small and medium-sized enterprises use cheap raw materials and excessive additives to maintain the freshness and taste of pre-prepared dishes, leading to the problem of abuse of additives.

Risk of expiration and deterioration: If the storage method is not appropriate, pre-prepared food can easily deteriorate. Eating spoiled pre-prepared food may cause projectile vomiting at the mildest, central nervous system disorders, dizziness, persistent diarrhea, electrolyte imbalance, and even myocarditis at the worst. The most serious is that it may cause fatal diseases due to toxins such as botulism and aflatoxin.

Illegal slaughtering hazards: The sources of some pre-prepared dishes are unknown, which may involve illegal slaughtering. Such meat may carry various pathogens and pose a great threat to human health.

Image source: Pixabay

3. How to avoid the potential risks of pre-prepared meals

Choose regular channels: When purchasing pre-prepared meals, you should choose regular supermarkets, e-commerce platforms or qualified merchants to ensure that the product source is reliable, and store and consume it strictly according to the methods indicated on the product label.

Check key information: carefully check the production date and shelf life of the product to avoid purchasing expired or near-expiry products and ensure the freshness of the ingredients.

Control the amount of consumption: Although pre-prepared meals are convenient and fast, given the potential risks, it is not recommended to consume them in large quantities for a long time. You should consume them in moderation to ensure a healthy diet.

As a product of modern fast-paced life, pre-prepared meals are a dietary convenience brought about by scientific and technological progress. We should uphold a scientific attitude, neither blindly following nor completely denying them, but rationally choosing and eating them, so that pre-prepared meals can better serve our lives and protect our own health.

[1] Xiao Youming; Xu Jianghong; Lai Sensen; Analysis of microbial contamination status and influencing factors of pre-prepared dishes[J].2023, 18: 85-87

[2] Zhao Bing. Food safety risks and governance measures for pre-prepared meals[J]. 2024, 31: 44-46

[3] Wu Liang; Liu Jie; Dong Jianfeng; Wang Yanying. Analysis of food safety risks and control measures in the production process of pre-prepared meals[J]. 2024,04: 160-162

Source: Chongqing Science Writers Association

Author: Tang Jinxia, ​​engineer of Chongqing Tongliang District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Qin Ming, attending physician of Tongliang District People's Hospital, and Zou Jingbo, chief technician of Mr. Zou's Science Garden

Audit expert: Li Hanbin

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