China has about 860 million urban residents, and three meals a day means about 2.5 billion meals a day. Recently, some business people predicted based on this data 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 food delivery more and more frequently in order to save time and get more food. 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 social division of labor. But the question brought about by this is worth discussing: Will food delivery become one of the mainstream lifestyles of Chinese people in the future? Can you eat healthy by entrusting three meals a day to food delivery?

There are many tricks to the numbers on plastic packaging boxes

Can people feel at ease eating takeout? This "at ease" refers to whether the food delivery is hygienic and safe, and whether it meets and satisfies the nutritional needs of the human body.

Let's first understand an often overlooked issue-lunch box safety.

The essential tool for take-out dining is the lunch box. With the prosperity of take-out dining, the demand for take-out packaging boxes and bags is increasing, and there are many varieties. Most of the containers for take-out dining on the market are now made of plastic. Careful people will find that there are digital labels on the plastic boxes seen in daily life. What do these numbers mean? They represent different materials of plastic, generally represented by numbers 01 to 07.

01 represents polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is often used to make mineral water bottles, carbonated beverage bottles, etc. This material is heat-resistant to 70буC.

02 represents high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which is often used to make plastic containers for cleaning supplies, bath products, etc., and can withstand high temperatures of 110 degrees Celsius. Plastic bags marked for food can be used to hold food.

03 represents polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is often used to make building materials and is a toxic plastic product. "Toxic" mainly refers to the single molecule of vinyl chloride that has not been completely polymerized during the production process, as well as harmful substances in plasticizers. These two substances are easy to precipitate when encountering high temperatures.

04 represents low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which is often used to make cling film, plastic film, etc. It is not heat-resistant and will melt when the temperature exceeds 110буC, leaving some plastic preparations that cannot be decomposed by the human body. Therefore, when food is wrapped in this cling film and heated, the fat in the food can easily dissolve the harmful substances in the cling film.

05 represents polypropylene (PP), which is often used to make microwave-safe lunch boxes. It can withstand 130буC and is the only plastic box that can be put into the microwave. It can be reused after cleaning. It should be noted that some microwave-safe lunch boxes are made of 05 PP, but the lid is made of 06 PS. PS has good transparency, but is not resistant to high temperatures and cannot be put into the microwave together with the box body.

06 represents polystyrene (PS), which is often used to make bowl-shaped instant noodle boxes and fast food boxes. It is both heat-resistant and cold-resistant. But it cannot be put into the microwave to avoid releasing chemicals due to excessive temperature, and it cannot be used to hold strong acid and alkaline substances.

07 represents other types of plastics (PC), which contain bisphenol A that is harmful to health.

The above introduces plastics 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 for making lunch boxes.

Is paper packaging safe?

In addition to plastic packaging boxes for catering, people often see paper packaging boxes. There are currently two main types of paper utensils for take-out catering. One is a coated paper lunch box, that is, there is a thin layer of polyethylene plastic coating on the paper box, which is equivalent to a layer of plastic film covering the paper surface. This kind of paper lunch box can withstand high temperatures of about 90буC, is suitable for hot and cold drinks, can play a good role in water isolation, and costs more than plastic lunch boxes, and the cost price is generally no more than 1 yuan. The other is aluminum foil lunch box, which is better than coated paper lunch box. Its raw materials are non-toxic, easy to heat, and no harmful substances are produced after heating; it is resistant to high temperatures, up to 660бц; it is easy to seal, has strong barrier properties, and can protect the original flavor of food after sealing and extend the shelf life of food; it can be efficiently recycled and reused. Aluminum foil lunch boxes are now promoted and used in aviation, high-speed rail and primary and secondary schools. However, due to the high cost, take-out catering businesses rarely use it.

At present, China has national standards for plastic products and paper food packaging for food packaging, and Shanghai and other places have also issued safety standards for paper packaging boxes for take-out meals.

However, given the endless emergence of various fast food packaging boxes on the market, everyone must pay attention to the digital logo on the plastic box when ordering take-out food, so as to know what is going on.

It is difficult to avoid the "three highs" in take-out catering

Even those who often order take-out, when talking about the food itself, they will not think that eating take-out for a long time is good for health. There are two reasons why people generally think that takeout is "bad". One is that it may not be clean, and the other is that it may not be nutritious. The first one tests the conscience and law-abiding consciousness of the merchants, and the second one actually depends on what kind of food the customers order.

Deliciousness is the primary condition for catering takeout to attract people. In order to make the 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 the "Opinions on Implementing the Healthy China Action", which detailed 15 actions for the health behavior of Chinese people, including the implementation of a reasonable dietary action and encouraging the whole society to participate in reducing salt, oil and sugar. The reason for encouraging salt, oil and sugar reduction is that a large number of research results have shown that high-salt, high-oil and high-sugar diets are not only the culprits of obesity, but also an important cause of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, etc. At the same time, a large number of studies have shown that most Chinese residents consume too much salt, cooking oil and fat, resulting in a high incidence of related diseases.

How to eat healthily varies from person to person, but the basic elements are nothing more than salt, oil, and sugar. According to the latest version of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", adults should not consume 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, preferably less than 25 grams.

However, dietary guidelines require people to actively recognize them and are not mandatory. Except for a very small number of simple meals provided by people for fitness, weight loss, etc., it is difficult for most restaurants to leave high salt, high oil, and high sugar for good taste. Therefore, under the current conditions, entrusting your diet completely or for a long time to the takeaway catering industry does not guarantee the healthy needs of diet.

Can you have both takeaway and health?

From another perspective, takeaway is actually ultra-processed food. Ultra-processed food is a concept proposed by a Brazilian pediatrician in his research, which means overly processed food, or food that is processed and mature and can be eaten at any time with various seasonings and additives.

Ultra-processed food is just a preliminary concept. For example, yogurt with added sugar and other "flavors" is an ultra-processed food. For pre-packaged foods, there is generally a simple way to determine whether it is an ultra-processed food: see if the ingredients list contains sugar, fructose syrup, refined vegetable oils, and a series of substances you don't recognize.

Ultra-processed foods have been criticized by health experts and nutritionists for adding more auxiliary ingredients, believing that they contribute to human obesity. However, some studies have shown that ultra-processed foods are a feasible way to improve nutritional status and nutrient intake. Food processing can also reduce food waste and make foods such as dairy products and wheat edible and delicious. In addition, processing can improve food quality, remove potential natural toxins, and increase the bioavailability of nutrients.

Another thing with deep meaning is that take-out 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%, ranking first in the world. However, in Chinese families, unpaid housework is mainly undertaken by wives (65%) and the elderly (23%). The participation rate of Chinese men in housework is only the fourth lowest in the world. Therefore, the healthy development of take-out catering means that women can reduce the time they spend cooking at home, which is a kind of labor liberation for them.

At the same time, those who support take-out catering believe that take-out catering can fully take into account both time saving and hygiene and nutrition, for example, providing food with less salt, oil and sugar according to the needs of diners. In fact, in recent years, more and more restaurants have responded to the government's call to publicly disclose the process of cooking food in the form of "sunshine kitchens" and label some dishes with less salt, oil and sugar. In addition, some restaurants have launched a service to watch the back kitchen catering production process on mobile phones in order to make customers who order take-out feel at ease.

We can imagine that if one day the entire catering industry can achieve "sunshine kitchens" and pay attention to dietary nutrition, related health concerns will most likely be dispelled. By then, not only will people be able to eat with peace of mind, but takeout will also have enough potential to become one of the mainstream lifestyles of Chinese people. (Zhang Tiankan)

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