China Implements Nationwide Standards to Strengthen Prepared Meal Market Oversight

China has recently introduced comprehensive nationwide standards aiming to enhance supervision of the rapidly expanding prepared meals market. These standards cover various aspects, including regulations on raw materials, ingredients, storage, transportation, and sales, with the goal of ensuring the safety and quality of ready meals.

Six Chinese regulatory bodies, including the State Administration for Market Regulation, jointly issued these standards last week. They address key concerns such as defining ready meals and establishing measures to guarantee their safety.

According to a report by Dongguan Securities, China's prepared meal market expanded by 23 percent to CNY 516.5 billion (USD 71.5 billion) in the previous year and is projected to surpass CNY 1.07 trillion (USD 148.3 billion) by 2026.

Under the new standards, ready meals are defined as prepacked meals that utilize edible agricultural products subjected to industrialized pre-processing and require heating or cooking before consumption. However, prepacked clean vegetables, quick-frozen noodles and rice, and instant foods are not considered ready meals.

The standards emphasize strict supervision of the quality of raw materials used in ready meals. They also call for close monitoring of relevant quality and standard certifications for edible agricultural products. Additionally, the use of food additives in ready meals must be strictly controlled.

Furthermore, the standards propose increased transparency in the catering industry by requiring disclosure of the use of premade meals. This measure aims to safeguard consumers' right to be informed about the food they consume.

Founder Securities suggests that the regulatory enhancements will lead to a more centralized premade meal market, which currently experiences scattered competition. According to Huatai Securities, the introduction of these standards will raise the entry barrier for companies entering the ready meal market, thereby promoting its healthy and orderly development. In the short term, small firms that cannot meet the requirements may face challenges and potential exclusion.