Pre-cooked meals displayed in the retail section of a supermarket in Changzhou, East China"s Jiangsu Province, March 4, 2025. Photo: VCG

　　Chinese authorities on Friday released a draft national food safety standard for pre-cooked meals for public consultation, a move analysts said marks a significant step toward strengthening food safety oversight while guiding healthier consumption and higher-quality industry development.

　　The draft standard was jointly issued by departments including the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR).

　　The standard provides a clearer definition of pre-cooked meals and strengthens oversight across the entire production and circulation chain, covering raw materials, production and processing, storage, transportation, packaging and labeling. It also encourages catering service providers to voluntarily disclose food processing methods based on their actual business practices, giving consumers clearer information about how dishes are prepared, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

　　The standard addresses potential risks across the entire supply chain, consolidating existing requirements - such as contaminant limits in finished products and production hygiene standards - into a more coherent framework, while introducing differentiated safety controls based on ingredients and processing methods.

　　Addressing issues that have drawn widespread public attention, the draft standard calls for shortening shelf life as much as possible, with a maximum limit of 12 months. It also reiterates that preservatives are not allowed and requires producers to minimize the use of food additives wherever feasible.