Food conservation and loss reduction should strengthen standard guidance

With the deepening of the work of food conservation and loss reduction, it is urgent to accelerate the construction of the standard system for food conservation and loss reduction, strengthen the supply of food conservation and loss reduction standards, and promote the application and implementation of
standards.
China's whole grain industry chain to save grain loss and stop catering waste work, not only to strengthen the guidance of standards, constantly improve the food industry chain standard system that meets the requirements of food conservation and loss reduction, but also to truly implement the standards in place to promote food conservation and loss reduction to achieve practical results
.

Standards are the basis and criteria for measuring things, and are internationally accepted technical languages; Standardization is a powerful measure
to promote food conservation and loss reduction.
According to the information released by the State Administration of Food and Material Reserves a few days ago, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the State Administration of Food and Material Reserves has organized and revised 47 grain conservation and loss reduction standards, basically established a grain conservation and loss reduction standard system covering the entire grain industry chain, and provided important technical support
for ensuring national food security.

Saving food and reducing losses is an important way to
ensure national food security.
At present, there are still problems in China's grain production, storage and transportation, processing, catering and other links, such as
irregular operations, insufficient implementation of technical standards, lack of relevant standards, and insufficient implementation efforts.
For example, in the production process, there are irregularities in sowing, harvesting, transportation, and drying operations; In the circulation link, there are unscientific household grain storage, insufficient implementation of grain storage technical standards in grain depots, and lack of standards for partial transportation, loading and unloading, and moderate processing.
In the catering sector, the storage and processing standards of catering enterprises are not in place, the catering system is unreasonable, and the publicity of green catering needs to be improved
.
With the deepening of the work of food conservation and loss reduction, it is urgent to accelerate the construction of the standard system for food conservation and loss reduction, strengthen the supply of food conservation and loss reduction standards, and promote the application and implementation of
standards.

The supporting standards for food conservation and loss reduction provide an important institutional guarantee
for food conservation and loss reduction.
China's standard architecture includes standards promulgated by the government and independent standards formulated by
the market.
The standards promulgated by the government mainly include national standards, industry standards and local standards, of which national standards are divided into mandatory national standards and recommended national standards, food safety is a mandatory national standard, and rice, wheat flour and vegetable oil product standards are recommended national standards; Market standards include group standards and corporate standards
.
Judging from the food conservation and loss reduction standards that have been issued so far, there are more recommended standards and few
mandatory standards.

The construction of the standard system of the whole food industry chain has played a fundamental role in leading food conservation and loss reduction, and effectively promoted food conservation and loss
reduction.

For example, in the acquisition process, the revised national standard of "soybeans" has increased the proportion of soybeans in the same class from about 66% to nearly 90% by revising quality indicators such as "damaged grain rate", which can effectively increase the purchase of grain sources; In the storage link, green grain storage standards such as "Technical Regulations for Controlled Grain Storage of Carbon Dioxide Atmosphere" and "Technical Regulations for Controlled Nitrogen Controlled Grain Storage" were released, which improved the level of green grain storage and reduced grain loss in the storage link; In the processing process, the revised recommended national standards such as "rice", "wheat flour" and "rapeseed oil" reasonably determine the accuracy of grain processing, guide enterprises from excessive processing to moderate processing, and greatly reduce food loss and waste
.
For example, the national standard of "rice" increases the total rice yield by about 1.
25% by setting the upper limit of processing accuracy; The national standard of "wheat flour" reduces the processing accuracy requirements, and modifies the original four processing grades to three categories: "refined powder", "standard powder" and "ordinary powder", taking ordinary flour as an example, the total flour yield is increased by 0.
5% to 3%.

In the catering consumption process, the group standard of "General Rules for the Evaluation of Economical Catering Enterprises" issued by the Market Supervision Bureau of Chaoyang District, Beijing, stipulates the evaluation principles and requirements
for economical catering enterprises.
It is worth noting that most of the recommended standards for stopping food and beverage waste are not mandatory standards
.

China's whole grain industry chain grain saving and loss reduction and stopping catering waste work is still in its infancy, and it is necessary to strengthen standard guidance and continuously improve the standard system
of the entire food industry chain that meets the requirements of food conservation and loss reduction.
Relevant industry associations and enterprises should be encouraged to formulate relevant group standards and enterprise standards
.
In the production process, focus on strengthening the revision of standards for planting technology, harvesting technology, seeders, harvesters and other production links; In the storage link, focus on strengthening the construction of storage equipment, pest mold control and loss reduction and other related standards development; In the transportation link, focus on reducing the development of relevant standards such as packaging, loading and unloading, scattering and loss rate; In the processing process, it focuses on the development
of relevant standards such as limiting excessive processing of products, scientifically defining product processing grades and comprehensive utilization rate of by-products.

Saving food and reducing losses is more important than action
.
Having standards is only the "first step", and the key to achieving food conservation and loss reduction lies in strictly implementing existing standards, strengthening the supervision of the implementation of food conservation and loss reduction standards, and truly implementing the standards in place to promote food conservation and loss reduction to achieve practical results
.
(Editor Li Chuang)