Local snacks are moving closer to standardization

Recently, the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision in Jiangsu Province held a symposium for food production enterprises, and relevant food production enterprises will jointly apply for collective trademarks and formulate group standards
for duck blood vermicelli soup.
The relevant staff of the Nanjing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau said that the group standard launched this time is mainly aimed at the production enterprises that produce the fast-food version of duck blood vermicelli soup, excluding catering enterprises
that produce and sell on site.

Across the country, this is not an isolated
case.
The main producing areas of special snacks such as meat dumplings, Shaxian snacks, snail powder, and cross-bridge rice noodles have launched corresponding group standards and local standards
.
A number of industry insiders mentioned that the formulation of local snack standards can standardize the development of the industry on the basis of maintaining characteristics, and make related products easier to copy, which is of great help
to the entire industry to break through geographical restrictions.

Maintaining features and harmonizing standards need to go hand in hand

Should such snacks have a collective trademark as a local feature, and how should group standards be formulated? Will unified standards affect industry innovation, or will they make the characteristics of different merchants the same?

"Very necessary
.
" Zhu Danpeng, vice president of the Guangdong Food Safety Promotion Association, said that it is very necessary to set industry standards for local snacks, but it is necessary to balance the relationship
between the market and industry standards.

Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, said that the introduction of local snack standards is the progress of the industry, which can guide the development of subdivided industries in a healthier and safer direction
.
"Farewell to barbaric growth, the speed of industrial expansion will be faster
.
" He said
.

However, this move has also been questioned
by the outside world.
Some voices put forward, "Excessive uniformity of industry standard taste may lead to the homogenization of products, lose the most basic characteristics of flavored foods, and thus lose the original locality
of snacks.
" Zhong Lanan, a senior partner at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, said that full market competition will eliminate those products with poor quality and taste, so there is no need for additional group standards, which may affect industry innovation
.

Like many local snacks, there are many fast food versions
of duck blood vermicelli soup in the market.
However, the duck blood vermicelli soup produced by different merchants has different "duck content"
.

A search on e-commerce platforms found that the price of instant duck blood vermicelli soup ranges from a few yuan to more than 20 yuan, most fast food products do not clearly indicate the content and weight of raw materials such as duck blood and duck miscellaneous, and some merchants include tofu, vegetables, etc.
in the weight calculation of seasoning packets
.
When some consumers want to know how much the "protagonist" duck blood and duck miscellaneous portions, the seller said that he did not know the real weight, which made it difficult for consumers to distinguish whether the product was "genuine"
.

Huang Ming, a professor at the College of Food Science and Technology of Nanjing Agricultural University, believes that the quality of duck blood vermicelli soup on the market is uneven, and the "duck content" has shrunk significantly
.
Cheap products may even have vermicelli and seasoning packets, duck blood, duck intestines and other important ingredients
.
This has disappointed many consumers who buy because of the good price
.

Many duck blood vermicelli soup manufacturers said that at present, some similar products in the domestic market are of low quality and poor quality, which has seriously damaged the market reputation
of Nanjing duck blood vermicelli soup.

To this end, the relevant departments in Nanjing will further formulate local food safety standards for duck blood vermicelli soup, standardize the market of duck blood vermicelli soup products, and build a public brand
of duck blood vermicelli soup in Nanjing.

Ensure the development of food safety and standardization industry

It's not uncommon to set group standards for snacks
.

In the first half of last year, the Nanjing Food Quality and Safety Monitoring Center issued the Notice on Matters Related to the Food Production License of Nanjing Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup and Similar Products, which clearly requires that "the content of the characteristic material package (duck product) is greater than 50% of the final product, and the solids content in the characteristic material package (duck product) should be greater than 50%
of the material package.
" ”

Another place, known as Yunnan Bridge Rice Noodles, started the standardization process
earlier.
At the same time, Xi'an, Fujian, Sanming, Guangxi and other places have also issued relevant standards
for meat dumplings, Shaxian snacks, snail powder, etc.

As early as 2018, the Tianjin Municipal Commission of Commerce issued the "Tianjin Local Traditional Famous Food Production and Processing Technical Specifications" (Yangcun Cake Dry), which made specific provisions on its terms and definitions, production sites and facilities and equipment, processing technology and environmental hygiene, labeling, packaging, transportation and storage, etc.
, and said that it would set up group standards
for traditional Jinmen specialty foods such as pancake dumplings, pot cabbage, and twist flowers.

The direct embodiment of the formulation of standards is to ensure food safety and standardize the development of
the industry.

Take Liuzhou snail powder as an example
.
In 2016, the Guangxi Health Commission issued the Local Standard for Food Safety (Liuzhou Snail Powder), which sets out specific requirements
for food additives, hygiene, packaging, transportation, storage and shelf life of snail powder.

In the following years, standards such as "Liuzhou Snail Powder Soup (Preparation) Packet Production Specification", "Liuzhou Snail Powder Production Disinfection and Sterilization Specification" and "Technical Specification for Ecological Breeding of Field Snail Rice Field" have been introduced one after another, and the standardization concept has gradually run through the entire industrial chain
of production and production.

The economic benefits of standardization are also obvious
.
Data show that in 2021, the sales revenue of the whole industry chain of Liuzhou snail powder reached 50.
16 billion yuan, of which the sales revenue of bagged Liuzhou snail powder reached 15.
197 billion yuan
.
There are also more than 10 leading enterprises of snail powder to improve the process and produce more convenient and fast food brewed Liuzhou snail powder
.

Huang Ming believes that the emergence of snail powder is related to the formulation of local food safety standards related to snail powder in Liuzhou, Guangxi
.

A founder of a hot and sour powder brand in Henan said that the characteristics and taste of the product are more related
to its own raw materials and research and development.
Standards are a normative framework that guides the healthy development of
the industry at the macro level.

At the Henan Hot and Sour Powder Industry Key Enterprises Symposium held in May this year, many local hot and sour powder companies called for the establishment of relevant standards
.

Chen Jiayue, assistant to the chairman of Yudao Agricultural Company, said that problems such as product counterfeiting, shoddy charging, and price wars have flooded the fast food hot and sour powder industry, bringing a great blow
to the entire industry.
It is understood that the local government recently launched the "Henan Province Hot and Sour Powder Industry Development Action Plan (2022-2025)", striving to complete 10 group standards for the whole industry chain of customized hot and sour powder, striving to upgrade 1-3 group standards to industry or local standards, and encouraging enterprises to participate in the formulation of national standards
.

From a higher perspective, the state is vigorously supporting standardization in various fields
.
The National Standardization Development Program clearly points out that standards are the technical support for economic activities and social development, and are an important aspect
of the country's basic system.
By 2025, achieve full coverage of standards in agriculture, industry, service industries and social undertakings, and basically complete
a standard system to promote high-quality development.

"Specific to the catering field, snacks, fast food, local snacks, etc.
, will be included in this strategy, and the industry will also tend to be refined and standardized
.
" Zhu Danpeng said
.

Break through geographical restrictions and go nationwide

With the development of the economy and the rise of e-commerce and social platforms, the regional color of special snacks has gradually blurred, and many of them have been freed from geographical restrictions and gradually moved to the whole country
.

Zhu Danpeng believes that the establishment of groups or industry standards will help shape the standardization, specialization, branding, capitalization and scale of local cuisine
.
"Standard formulation is only a broad requirement for materials and dosage, and there is still a lot of room
for innovation and development on this basis to do a good balance.
" Zhu Danpeng said
.

Wen Zhihong, partner of Hejun Consulting and head of chain operation, mentioned that the core of local snacks lies in regional characteristics
.
However, if it cannot be regulated in the process of nationalization, it is easy to lose competitiveness in the later stage
.
"Setting standards allows local snacks to remain authentic
.
At the same time, once standards are developed, products can be made easier to replicate
.
This is critical
to a brand's nationwide process.
Wen Zhihong said
.

This has been a mature case in the field of local snacks in China, and Shaxian snacks covering the whole country have long developed into a local pillar industry, behind which the formulation of standards plays a great role
in promoting it.

It is worth noting that many local snacks have received capital attention
.
Up to now, three Lanzhou ramen brands, Ma Jiyong, Chen Xianggui and Zhang Lala, Hunan rice noodles "Baman", Guizhou rice noodles "Guifenghuang", Sichuan snack half soup chaoshou, etc.
have all received financing
.
Behind this, there are relevant standards
.

"Standardization promotes more standardization in the industry, protects the rights and interests of consumers, and will play a positive and benign demonstration role
for local specialty foods to go to the whole country and even to the world.
" Zhu Danpeng said
.

(Yuan Guofeng, comprehensive arrangement)

China Food News(November 11, 2022, Version 05)

(Responsible editor: Yang Xiaojing)