Since its boom in 2021, the preformed food has been in a critical developing period and at a crossroad for the industry. According to the statistics, the domestic market size of preformed food was of about 350 billion yuan in 2021, a 50% year-over-year increase in the first half of this year, and is expected to reach a trillion in three or five years, which triggers the cities in China to seizemarketshareof the preformed food industry.

On June 30, Sichuan Preformed Food Industry Promoting Conference was held in Chengduand the Sichuan Preformed Food Industry Alliance was establishedin the conference. The conference made it clear that the preformed food industry size in Sichuan will strive to break 100 billion yuan in 2025. With a promising prospect and about 3-trillions-yuan market size, the preformed food industry brings about chances and challenges for Sichuan, the home of Sichuan cuisine.

Government: establishing the industry alliance

The key measure of Sichuan's effort to further the performed food industryis to establish the Preformed Food Industry Alliance. According to Ren Weiwei, the Executive Secretary General of the Preformed Food Industry Alliance, the major works of the alliance include promoting the standard setting of technological process, packing technique, food security management, etc., cooperating with the research institutes to promote the flavor, freshness, equipment and quality, and to narrow down the gap between upstream and downstream industry and increase the overall production.

These are exactly the pain spots of Sichuan preformed food development. As one of the "Eight Chinese Cuisines", Sichuan food requires great research and develop ability of preformed food. Ren Weiwei pointedout that Sichuan food needs not just lots of seasoning and diversified flavors, but to overcome the technological difficulty to reproduce the forms, colors and flavors of the freshly cooked food.

"The preformed food related enterprises and technology shall develop coordinately to promote the regional preformed food industry comprehensively." Sichuan Preformed Food Alliance has laid out the "IP" plans: to mark the local label, strengthen the unique IP, and enhance Sichuan preformed food's influence.

How to develop preformed food: standards, brands, talents

The standard of preformed food includes technological standard, security standard, security standard, and site requirements, etc. Shizhong District of Leshan City, Sichuan Province has signed the contract of cooperation with five research institutes including Institute of Agro-product Processing Technology, Sichuan University, and Sichuan Tourism University,etc. to study the standard of Leshan preformed food. The technological standard of some famous snacks like the Sweet-skin Duck and Qiaojiao Beef has been started to lay out. Take the Sweet-skin Duck for example, the size, the flavor and quantity of the seasoning bags, as well as the processing steps, heat control, duration of cooking will be standardized.

Chen Zuming, a professor at Sichuan Tourism University notedthat there're two levels of standard: for the public, and for the enterprises. The public standard requires the experts and researchers' joint study and discussion. Based on the public standard, the enterprises can employ their secret recipes according to their features and expectations to produce the distinctive preformed food.

Shizhong District will develop the "Taste of Leshan" preformed food into a famous public brand which will be exclusive for the enterprises that satisfy the requirements. "Taste of Leshan" will center on "authenticity", based on the distinctive local raw materials and seasoning, to present the authentic Leshan food. "When it comes to Qiaojiao Beef and Potted Chicken, people will think of Leshan."

Shizhong District will offer the award and subsidy for talents who settle down in Leshan, and derate the workshop rent for the enterprises in the park, open the approval Green Channel, support the product promotion and marketing. "It greatly improved our confidence in developing preformed food." According to Zhang Qian, he will cooperate with other three inheritors of Qiaojiao Beef to invest 0.1 billion yuan to develop the preformed Qiaojiao Beef.