THE Guangdong government released a work plan Friday on promoting pre-prepared meals and related businesses, Nanfang Plus reported.

The goal of developing a pre-prepared food industry is to help farmers earn higher income, according to Gao Qingying, deputy director-general of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangdong Province.

Pre-prepared food refers to finished or semi-finished dishes that are prepared in a factory and preserved by freezing or vacuum packaging after pre-processing.

Guangdong, boasting abundant seafood resources and mature agriculture with a long history, has developed a fast-growing pre-prepared food industry.

The work plan includes a package of measures to boost the industry’s standardized, large-scale and professional production, which aims to bring safer, healthier and more delicious food to consumers in a convenient way.

Guangdong took the lead in organizing and promoting pre-prepared foods in China, setting off an upsurge in the industry’s development. The province ranked first in the country’s pre-prepared food industry index last year.

Gao said that the province’s development of the industry is still in its preliminary exploration stage, so more efforts are needed to support its high-quality development.

The work plan also aims to enhance industrial competitiveness. The province will build a joint research and development platform for pre-prepared food industry and encourage enterprises to carry out joint research on key technologies. It will build several industrial parks with preferential policies.

The plan’s second focus is on strengthening quality and safety supervision. Guangdong will establish a regulatory system for pre-prepared foods, formulating a series of standards in the whole chain.

The government will explore the establishment of a standardized assessment system for the supply chain. Authorities will ask financial institutions to cooperate with pre-prepared food enterprises to launch a number of special insurance products.

The work plan also emphasizes the need to expand brand influence. Related government departments will organize special promotion activities in large-scale exhibitions, help well-known brand products to enter schools, factories, hospitals, communities and other canteens. The government will establish a service team to help qualified enterprises find international partners.

Measures will be taken to accelerate the industry’s in-depth integration with leisure, tourism and cultural industries.

The work plan says that government at all levels in the province should provide necessary support for the industry. Guangdong will launch a project to train special talents in the industry and help the industry build a cold chain in a closed-loop supply mode.

(Windy Shao)