撰写China has about 860 million urban population, three meals a day, which is about 2.50 billion meals a day. Recently, some business people predict that China’s food delivery market will become larger and larger.
It is a fact that food delivery has become "popular" in China. In recent years, people have chosen to order takeout meals with a significant increase in frequency due to the consideration of saving time and food richness. From a socioeconomic perspective, food delivery is undoubtedly a branch of the emerging consumer market that relies on the popularity of the Internet of Things, e-commerce and online payment, and is a manifestation of the social division of labor. But the question raised by this is worth exploring: Will food delivery become one of the mainstream lifestyles of people in the future? Can you eat healthy by entrusting three meals a day to food delivery?
There are many digital doorways on the plastic packaging box.
Can eating takeaway reassure people? This "reassurance" refers to whether the food takeaway is hygienic and safe, and also refers to whether it meets and meets the nutritional needs of the human body.
Let’s start with an often overlooked issue – lunch box safety.
The essential tool for takeaway catering is the lunch box. With the prosperity of takeaway catering, the demand for takeaway packaging boxes and bags is increasing, and there are many patterns. Most of the utensils on the market for takeaway catering are made of plastic. Careful people will find that there are digital logos on the plastic boxes they see in daily life. What do these numbers represent? They represent different materials of plastic, usually represented by the numbers 01 to 07.
01 stands for polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is often used to make mineral water bottles, carbonated beverage bottles, etc. This material is heat-resistant to 70 ° C.
02 stands for high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which is often used to make plastic containers for cleaning products, bath products, etc. It can withstand high temperatures of 110 degrees Celsius. Plastic bags for food can be used to hold food.
03 stands for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is often used to make building materials and is a toxic plastic product. "Toxic" mainly refers to single-molecule vinyl chloride that is not fully polymerized during the production process, as well as harmful substances in plasticizers. These two substances are easy to precipitate when exposed to high temperatures.
04 stands for low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which is often used to make plastic wrap, plastic film, etc. It is not heat-resistant. When the temperature exceeds 110 ° C, hot melt will occur, leaving some plastic preparations that cannot be decomposed by the human body. Therefore, by wrapping food in this plastic wrap for heating, the oil in the food can easily dissolve the harmful substances in the plastic wrap.
05 stands for polypropylene (PP), which is often used to make microwave oven special lunch boxes. It can withstand 130 ° C. It is the only plastic box that can be put into microwave ovens and can be reused after cleaning. It should be noted that some microwave oven special lunch boxes are made of 05 PP, but the lid is made of 06 PS. PS has good transparency, but it is not resistant to high temperature and cannot be put into microwave ovens together with the box.
06 stands for polystyrene (PS), which is often used to make bowl instant noodle boxes and fast food boxes. It is heat-resistant and cold-resistant. But it cannot be put into the microwave oven to avoid releasing chemicals due to excessive temperature, and cannot be used to hold strong acids and alkaline substances.
07 stands for other types of plastics (PC), which contain unhealthy bisphenol A.
The above describes the plastics made of materials 01 to 07. The content looks a bit professional, but after understanding their respective uses, you will understand that only 02, 05, and 06, namely high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS), are relatively safe to make lunch boxes.
Is the paper box safe?
In addition to plastic packaging boxes for catering, we often see paper packaging boxes. There are currently two main types of paper utensils for takeaway catering. One is the coated paper lunch box, that is, the paper box has a thin layer of polyethylene plastic coating, which is equivalent to a layer of plastic film covering the paper surface. This paper lunch box can withstand high temperatures of about 90 ° C, is suitable for hot and cold drinks, and can play a good role in water insulation. The cost is higher than that of plastic lunch boxes, and the cost price is mostly less than 1 yuan. The other is the aluminum foil lunch box, which is better in quality than the coated paper lunch box. Its raw materials are non-toxic, easy to heat, and do not produce harmful substances after heating; high temperature resistance, up to 660 ° C; easy to seal, strong barrier, can protect the original taste of food after sealing, and prolong the shelf life of food; can be recycled and reused efficiently. Aluminum foil lunch boxes are now widely used in aviation, high-speed rail and primary and secondary schools. However, due to the high cost, takeaway catering merchants are less used.
At present, our country has national standards for plastic products and paper food packaging for food packaging, and Shanghai and other places have also introduced safety standards for takeaway paper packaging boxes.
However, in light of the endless variety of fast food packaging boxes on the market, it is essential to pay attention to the digital logo on the plastic box when ordering food takeaway.
Takeaway dining is unavoidable "three highs"
Even people who regularly order takeout do not think that eating takeout is good for their health for a long time when talking about the food itself. It is generally believed that takeout is "bad" for two reasons. One is that it may not be clean, and the other is that it may not be nutritious. The first test is the conscience and law-abiding awareness of the merchant. The second is actually to see what kind of food the customer orders.
In order to make food delicious, it is inevitable to have a heavy taste, often high in salt, oil, sugar and a variety of seasonings.
This year, the State Council issued "Opinions on Implementing Healthy China Actions", which detailed 15 actions for Chinese people’s health behaviors, including implementing reasonable diet actions and encouraging the whole society to participate in reducing salt, oil and sugar. The reason why it is necessary to encourage the reduction of salt, oil and sugar is that a large number of studies have proved that a diet high in salt, oil and sugar is not only the culprit of obesity, but also an important cause of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer. At the same time, a large number of studies have proved that the majority of Chinese residents consume too much salt, cooking oil and fat, resulting in a high incidence of related diseases.
How to eat healthily in your mileage may vary, but the basics are nothing more than salt, oil and sugar. According to the latest edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents, adults should eat no more than 6 grams of salt per day, 25-30 grams of cooking oil per day, and no more than 50 grams of sugar per day. It is best to control it below 25 grams.
However, dietary guidelines require active approval and are not mandatory. Except for a very small number of simple meals provided for people such as fitness and weight loss, it is difficult for most restaurants to leave high salt, oil and sugar in order to taste good. Therefore, under the current conditions, completely or long-term entrusting one’s diet to the takeaway restaurant industry cannot guarantee the healthy needs of the diet.
Can you have takeout and be healthy?
From another perspective, takeout is actually ultra-processed food. Ultra-processed food is a concept proposed by a Brazilian pediatrician in a study, which means overly processed food, or food that is ready to be eaten with various seasonings and additives.
Ultra-processed foods – yogurts with added sugar and other "flavors," for example, are considered ultra-processed foods. For prepackaged foods, there is a simple way to determine whether they are ultra-processed: Look at the ingredient list for ingredients like sugar, fructose syrup, refined vegetable oils, and a list of substances you don’t recognize.
Ultra-processed foods have been blamed by health experts and nutritionists for contributing to increasing obesity in humans due to the addition of more excipients. But there are also studies showing that ultra-processed foods are a viable way to improve nutritional status and nutrient intake. Food processing can also reduce food waste and make foods such as dairy and wheat edible and palatable. In addition, processing can improve food quality, remove potential natural toxins, and increase the bioavailability of nutrients.
Another thing of deep significance is that takeaway food can liberate women from the labor of cooking food at home. Statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show that China’s female participation rate (labor participation rate) exceeds 70%, which is the highest in the world. However, in Chinese households, unpaid housework is mainly carried out by wives (65%) and the elderly (23%). The domestic participation rate of Chinese men is only the fourth lowest in the world. Therefore, the healthy development of takeaway food means that women can reduce the time spent cooking at home, which is a kind of labor liberation for them.
At the same time, those who support food delivery believe that food delivery can save time and health and nutrition, for example, provide food with less salt, less oil and less sugar according to the needs of diners. In fact, in recent years, more and more restaurants have responded to the government’s call to open up the cooking process in the form of "sunshine kitchens", and label some dishes with less salt, less oil and less sugar. In order to make customers who order takeout feel at ease, some restaurants have launched mobile phone video services to watch the production process of back-kitchen meals.
We can imagine that if one day, the entire catering industry can achieve a "sun kitchen" and pay attention to dietary nutrition, the related health concerns are likely to be dispelled. At that time, not only can you eat with confidence, but takeout also has enough potential to become one of the mainstream lifestyles of people. (Zhang Tiankan)