







































 Humanities and Social Science Research; Vol. 8, No. 2; 2025 

ISSN 2576-3024   E-ISSN 2576-3032 

https://doi.org/10.30560/hssr.v8n2p49 

 49 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

Study on the Development Dilemma of Prefabricated Vegetable 

Industry and the Path of Legal Regulation 

Yang Huikang1, Chen Xiaoye2, Shen Xiangyu3, Xia Lifang3 & Wang Qi3 

1 Law School, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Kingdom United 

2 School of Intellectual Property, East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, China 

3 School of Law, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao, China 

Correspondence: Chen Xiaoye, School of Intellectual Property, East China University of Political Science and 

Law, Shanghai, China. 

 

Received: March 8, 2025; Accepted: March 29, 2025; Published: March 31, 2025 

 

Abstract 

Food safety public opinion in the prepared vegetable industry has a negative impact on the development of the 

industry. The lack of industry as well as school lunch standards, the absence of industry self-regulation, the 

inadequacy of the regulatory system and the low transparency of information are the deep-seated reasons for the 

outbreak of negative public opinion in the prepared vegetable industry. The healthy development of the prepared 

vegetable industry requires the joint efforts of many parties. The systematic construction of the standard system is 

an important prerequisite for the orderly development of the prepared vegetable industry; the real performance of 

industry self-regulation is the internal incentive for the development of the prepared vegetable industry; the 

improvement and perfection of regulatory measures and early warning mechanism is the external guarantee for 

the development of the prepared vegetable industry; and the effective disclosure of product information can help 

to increase the participation rate of the public in supervision, which will in turn stimulate the effective 

implementation of the industry self-regulation and the governmental supervision, and realise the pluralistic and 

common governance of the prepared vegetable industry. The effective disclosure of product information can help 

improve the participation rate of public supervision, which in turn can stimulate the effective implementation of 

industry self-regulation and government supervision, and realise the multi-dimensional governance of the prepared 

vegetable industry. 

Keywords: prefabricated vegetables, standard construction, industry self-regulation, public traceability 

1. Introduction 

Prepared food refers to agricultural, livestock, poultry and aquatic products as raw materials, with a variety of 

auxiliary materials for pre-processing or pre-cooking of finished or semi-finished products, packaged in room 

temperature, refrigerated or frozen conditions for storage, transport and sale, can be consumed directly or after 

simple cooking, as a daily meal to eat [1]. Its time-saving and convenient features make many consumers tend to 

choose prepared food products under the fast-paced lifestyle [2], and its standardised meal preparation mode is 

also in line with the demand for campus lunch meals, so there is a huge potential for development of the related 

market [3]. However, because the industrial chain of prepared dishes is more complex than the general food 

processing chain, and the product radiation range is wider, it is easy to appear larger food safety incidents (In 

Saitama Prefecture, Japan, 3,453 students and teachers from 15 elementary and middle schools suffered from 

abdominal pain and diarrhoea after eating a lunch of prepared food consisting of fried chicken and seaweed 

provided by the city's "Eastern Food Service Centre". See also 3,400 people suffered from food poisoning at the 

school's food service, and three people from the food service industry were sent to the hospital for testing...Water 

is used for the treatment of seaweed, which is a pathogen of coliform bacteria[N/OL]. Yomiuri News. (2023-01-

06)[2023-10-20]https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20230106-OYT1) , triggering negative public opinion at the 

social level, affecting the long-term development of the industry, so in order to safeguard the public's food health 

and safety, this paper intends to explore the current development of the prepared dish industry in China 

encountered difficulties and solutions. 

 

 



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2. Current Development Dilemma of the Prepared Vegetable Industry 

Prefabricated vegetable industry in China is in a good position in the early stage. As a typical paradigm of industrial 

integration, the prepared food industry has received policy support from Shandong Province[4] and Guangdong 

Province[5] in recent years, and the No.1 Document of the Central Government in 2023 also pointed out that it 

should "cultivate and develop the prepared food industry"[6]. Its convenience and diversity[7] have indeed 

attracted many consumers. According to a survey of 1,452 consumers(The survey team took a sampling approach 

and randomly sent out 2,000 questionnaires on the development of the prepared vegetable industry, with a total of 

1,452 valid questionnaires returned.), 96.76% have purchased prepared food (Figure 1), and 34.03% of respondents 

have consumed prepared food at a high frequency (more than seven times per week) (Figure 2). Nevertheless, 

compared with the high penetration rate of Japan and the United States market[8], China's current market 

penetration rate of prepared dishes is only 15%[9], with great room for expansion, the market has a broad prospect 

and strong momentum, only in 2020 the number of new registered enterprises will be as high as 12,900[1], the 

market value of the concept of prepared dishes stocks has also significantly outperformed the same period of the 

Shanghai Stock Exchange Index[10]. Currently, the prepared food industry is developing at a high speed with an 

annual growth rate of about 20%, and is expected to become the next trillion-dollar market[1]. The rapid 

development of the industry has also left behind hidden food safety problems(For example, in 2023, there was a 

problem in Rongjiang New District, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, where hundreds of children ate late and had 

diarrhoea on the first day of school due to the untimely delivery of meals from central kitchens and a shortage of 

service staff, which caused extensive discussion on the Internet. See [11] CNN. Parents quit their jobs to deliver 

meals amid fears of pre-prepared food in schools [N/OL]. CCTV. (2023-09-18)[2023-10-05]. 

https://edu.cctv.com/2023/09/18/ARTIu9UGjsjKL4iq7MtISGNu230918.shtml.), affecting consumer attitudes 

towards the industry, in this questionnaire, 38.15 per cent of consumers expressed concerns about the food safety 

of prepared dishes (Figure 3). 

 
Figure 1. Statistics on the Purchase of Prepared Vegetables 

 
Figure 2. Statistics on the Frequency of Consumption of Prepared Vegetables 



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Figure 3. Negative views of prepared vegetables Statistical charts 

 

Unlike traditional food processing, current prepared food uses many technologies to achieve standardised 

production, such as novel targeted bacterial reduction, flavour development and retention, rapid pre-cooling, air-

conditioned packaging and preservation, and temperature-controlled cold-chain distribution [11], and operational 

errors in any of these processes may lead to an increase in the risk of food safety of the final product of the batch, 

and due to the public's lack of understanding of the industry and the technology, there is greater concern about 

food safety issues of this type of scaled product. Due to the lack of public understanding of the industry and the 

technology, the public is more concerned about the food safety of such large-scale products, and when a potential 

risk arises, a wide range of negative public opinion is triggered. 73.55% of the respondents admitted that the public 

opinion related to the prepared dishes did affect their trust in the industry to a certain extent (Figure 4). An impaired 

level of trust then reduces consumers' willingness to buy [12], with 25.00 per cent of consumers stating that they 

would not continue to buy prepared dishes after the incident of prepared dishes in schools (Figure 5). Negative 

consumer attitudes will wrongly hurt other operators in the industry and affect the overall development of the 

industry. From the stock market, the concept of prepared vegetables sector has fallen for several consecutive 

trading days since 19 September 2023 [13], with an overall drop of 0.14% by the close of trading on 27 September 

[14]. 

 

Figure 4. Survey Statistics of Negative Public Opinion on Industry Trust Level 



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Figure 5. Survey Statistics of Consumers' Willingness to Continue Purchasing 

 

However, the pre-prepared vegetable industry has a very high development value. Prepared vegetables can not 

only benefit the consumer groups under the fast-paced mode, but also serve as a successful paradigm of industrial 

integration and development, connecting the field and the dining table, which is also in line with the national policy 

direction of striving to promote the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries  [18] , and 

fits into the general background of the current industrial integration [15] [16] [17]. The model is also a development 

model and form of industrial organisation to improve productivity and competitiveness, which is conducive to 

improving agricultural competitiveness and increasing farmers' income, as well as promoting the further 

development of the catering industry. In other words, ensuring the high quality development of the prepared 

vegetable industry helps to achieve a win-win situation for society. Therefore, it is necessary to deeply analyse the 

deep-rooted contradictions implied in the fast-developing prepared vegetable industry, probe into the operation of 

the institutional guarantee mechanism, and put forward practical measures with practical value, in order to provide 

advice for the benign development of the prepared vegetable industry, and to better guarantee that the prepared 

vegetables can be healthy and safe to the public's table. 

3. Analysis of the Causes of the Development Dilemma of the Prepared Vegetable Industry 

Prepared vegetables into the campus incident is the current prepared vegetables food safety public opinion outbreak 

of the fuse, the negative public opinion caused by the current prepared vegetables industry is facing the main 

dilemma. However, only through in-depth analysis of the causes of the current predicament of the prepared 

vegetable industry, we can put forward targeted measures to solve the problem and protect the long-term 

development of the prepared vegetable industry. 

3.1 Lack of Mandatory Reference Standards for the Development of the Prefabricated Vegetable Industry 

Standardisation is an important guarantee for the standardised development of the industry, and the construction 

of the standard system for prepared vegetables determines the threshold and development prospects of the prepared 

vegetable industry, and the current standardisation of the prepared vegetable industry in China is not yet sufficient, 

resulting in a lack of reference standards for industrial development. 

3.1.1 Prefabricated Vegetable Standard System is not Yet Sound 

As prepared dishes, especially seasoned and ready-to-eat prepared dishes, come in a variety of product types, the 

production process is complex, but there is no complete national standard to regulate the technology and production 

process of prepared dishes. Of the 13 "local standards" provided in the report, only eight are local standards in the 

legal sense issued by government departments (Table 1), showing sporadic dispersion but overall more 

concentrated in the southern region (The eight local standards are concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta region, 

including Shanghai and Jiangsu, the Huainan region, including Guangdong and Fujian, and Chongqing 

Municipality.) However, due to the obvious territoriality of the effectiveness of the local standards, there is still 

no standard for prepared dishes in most regions to regulate. The content of the current local standards is also in a 

fragmented state. Most of the local policies are more inclined to invoke the existing national standards related to 

pre-packaging in their production standards, but national standards such as pre-packaging do not yet meet the 



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standard requirements of "reducing the risk of food safety of prepared vegetables" and "long-term development of 

the industry". 

 

Table 1. Summary of 8 Local Standards Policies in the Prepared Vegetable Industry Report 

Province/city Title of document Release Date 

Jiangsu 

Province 

Jiangsu Province Consumer Protection Commission and other units jointly 

drafted "the quality of pre-prepared dishes to evaluate the norms" of the 

country's first pre-prepared dishes group standards released 

2022/5/19 

Guangxi 

autonomous 

region in 

south China 

Nanning City Market Supervision Administration on the approval of the 

release of "terminology of prepared dishes" and other 3 local standards notice 
2022/5/31 

Fujian 

Province 

Fujian Provincial Health Commission Notice on the Publication of Fujian 

Provincial Food Safety Local Standard for Goldenrod (DBS35/006-2022) 

Fujian Provincial Food Safety Local Standard for Fojiao Wall (DBS35/007-

2022) 

2022/6/2 

Guangdong 

Province 

Guangdong projects to formulate five local standards, including "Terminology 

and Classification Requirements for Prepared Dishes", "General Requirements 

for Packaging Labelling of Prepared Dishes of Cantonese Cuisine", "Norms 

for Sensory Evaluation of Prepared Dishes", "Guidelines for Construction of 

Prepared Dishes Industrial Parks", and "Norms for Cold Chain Distribution of 

Prepared Dishes". 

2022/7/22 

Chongqing 

Chongqing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau released the production and 

operation of prepared dishes "the implementation of food safety main 

responsibility of the twenty articles 

2022/11/28 

Shanghai 

Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration on the release of the 

"Shanghai pre-cooked vegetables production permit review programme" 

notice 

2023/1/9 

Shanghai, 

Jiangsu, 

Zhejiang and 

Anhui 

Provinces 

Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration Jiangsu Provincial 

Market Supervision Administration Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision 

Administration Anhui Provincial Market Supervision Administration on the 

issuance of the "Guidelines for the Review of Manufacturing Licences of 

Prepared Dishes in the Yangtze River Delta 

2023/1/20 

Chongqing 

Guidelines for the Construction of Industrial Parks for Prepared Vegetables, 

Code of Conduct for the Production and Processing of Prepared Vegetables 

and Standard System for the Safety Supervision of the Production and 

Operation of Prepared Vegetables 

2023/2/28 

 

3.1.2 Self-Consistency of Local Standards Needs to be Improved 

Some regions have also attempted to develop more demanding standards for prepared dishes. In Guangdong 

Province, for example, the cities of Zhaoqing, Shaoguan, Chaozhou, Zhanjiang, and Foshan have developed their 

own local standards systems for prepared dishes. In the absence of a national standard as a basis for development, 

the content of local standards for prepared vegetables has diverged. And even within a specific region, the self-

consistency of its normative content needs to be improved. For example, enterprises in Zhaoqing City generally 

use a combination of their own base supply and market-based purchasing to guarantee the supply of raw materials, 

but the standards between bases and between bases and markets are not completely consistent, and the lack of 

standards also leads to difficulties in guaranteeing the security of raw material supply [19] . 

3.1.3 Group Standards do not Provide a Safeguard Role 

As of October 2023, a total of 48 currently valid enterprise standards were published on the public service platform 

for enterprise information standards (Table 2). A total of 148 currently valid group standards have been published 

on the national group information standards platform, of which 20 have been released by national associations and 

128 by local associations (Table 3). The timely formulation of standards by groups and enterprises can provide 

greater assistance to industrial development, open up communication channels among enterprises, promote 

technical exchanges among enterprises to a certain extent, save time and costs, and help industrial development. 



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However, group standards emphasise leading and innovation, and enterprise standards focus on improving quality 

[20]. Both are recommended standards and are not mandatory. Therefore, even group standards issued by national 

associations cannot be required to be enforced by association members, and cannot replace the basic guarantee 

role of national mandatory standards. 

 
Table 2. Summary of Enterprise Standards for Prepared Vegetables 

 

 

Table 3. Summary of Group Standards for Prepared Dishes 

 

3.1.4 The Lack of Campus Lunch Standards 

Prepared food is not off-limits to schools. In fact, under the premise of ensuring the freshness, safety and nutrition 

of the ingredients, and taking into account the reasonableness of the preservation method and the length of transport, 

the mode of unified production and distribution of central kitchens to campuses can fully guarantee that students 

can consume fresh and nutritious lunches. This model is also in line with the large number of schools in China and 

centralised, the campus covers a small area but has a large number of teachers and students [21], has the feasibility 

of promoting in the campus. However, the prerequisite for its entry into school campuses is to ensure that students 

in their growth stage consume sufficient healthy food and nutrition. The current national standards ensure that 

prepared food products meet the safety bottom line, but safety is not the same as health. The lack of standards for 

school lunches in China is also a major dilemma for central kitchens and other standardised catering models of 

prepared food products to enter schools. 

The legislative provisions for school lunch standards in China need to be improved. Although the importance of 

school meals has long been noted and the Measures for Hygienic Supervision of Students' Collective Meals were 

issued in 1996, the prevalence rate was limited due to economic development. In 2019, the Ministry of Education, 

in conjunction with other ministries, formulated the Regulations on the Management of Food Safety and 



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Nutritional Health in Schools, which made it clear that a sound risk prevention and control system of food safety 

in schools should be established to ensure food safety, and required schools to set up a meal accompaniment system 

and ensure information disclosure and transparency. It also requires schools to establish a meal system and ensure 

information disclosure and transparency, but the relevant provisions are too principled, and there are no detailed 

rules and supporting norms, so the performance of the affairs is poor. The absence of mandatory nutritional 

indicators is an important reason for the phenomenon of irrational combinations of school lunches and the lack of 

improvement in the nutritional quality of lunches [22]. Therefore, in the absence of a reasonable system to monitor 

the food entering the school campus, it is inevitable that low-quality prepared dishes will enter the school campus. 

When prepared food involves the extremely sensitive health issue of students' meals, the social group represented 

by parents will be extremely sensitive to whether their food safety can be guaranteed (Figure 6), and will be 

strongly opposed to it until there are accurate results. 

 

Figure 6. Statistical Chart of Prefabricated Vegetables in Schools Worry Factors 

 

3.2 The Prefabricated Vegetable Trade Association is not Yet in Shape 

Another important reason for the mixed quality of the prepared vegetable market is the absence of industry self-

regulation, which is mainly reflected in the failure of trade associations to play a real role. China's Food Safety 

Law stipulates that "food industry associations should strengthen industry self-regulation" (Article 9, paragraph 1, 

of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China provides that food industry associations should 

strengthen industry self-discipline, establish and improve industry norms and reward and punishment mechanisms 

in accordance with their statutes, provide food safety information, technology and other services, guide and 

supervise food producers and operators to operate in accordance with the law, promote the construction of integrity 

in the industry, and publicise and popularise food safety knowledge.), industry self-regulation is to achieve the 

common interests of the industry for the purpose of the main body of the market in some form of organisation to 

carry out the service, self-regulation, coordination and supervision of the functions of the economic organisation 

[23]. Due to more frequent and effective communication among members, industry associations have more 

comprehensive information advantages than government departments [24] and more professional technical 

advantages [25], and their standards, regulations and disciplinary measures are more enforceable, which 

contributes to a sound market system and market operation mechanism. 

In response to the urgent demand for the development of the prepared vegetable industry, during the period of 

2022-2023, Hebei Baoding Central Kitchen Prepared Vegetable Industry Union [26], China Prepared Vegetable 

Union [27], Liaoning Prepared Vegetable Industry Association [28], Shandong Prepared Vegetable Industry 

Federation [29], Luoyang Prepared Vegetable Industry Union [30], Zhongshan Prepared Vegetable Industry Union 

[31], and Changchun Prepared Vegetable Industry Union [32] were established one after another, but due to the 

relatively short time of establishment, most of the industry unions have not yet introduced prepared vegetable-

related group standards to guide the development of the prepared vegetable industry (Among the 148 group 

standards for prepared vegetables embodied in Table 3, there are only two group standards formulated by the 

Prepared Vegetable Industry Alliance, with the main body being the Shandong Prepared Vegetable Industry 

Alliance). 



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Good internal governance structure is the structural requirement for the effective implementation of industry self-

regulation, but few associations have organised specialised self-regulation departments or internal mandatory 

statutes in the prefabricated vegetable industry alliance set up in our country at present, thus unable to form an 

effective relief [33], and unable to reach the condition of "anti-self-interest policies and procedures for adequate 

internal protection" required by a good self-regulation system." [34] The absence of an internal self-regulatory 

system has in fact become a practical impediment to self-regulation by trade associations [35]. 

To sum up, it is difficult for the Prepared Vegetable Industry Alliance currently established in China to fulfil the 

role of self-governance as stipulated in the Food Safety Law in the areas of industry standardisation, food safety 

risk assessment, review of food safety standards, and reporting of problems, etc. (Article 9, paragraph 1, of the 

Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China: Food industry associations should strengthen industry self-

discipline, establish and improve industry norms and reward and punishment mechanisms in accordance with their 

statutes, provide food safety information, technology and other services, guide and supervise food producers and 

operators in accordance with the law, promote the integrity of the industry, and publicise and popularise knowledge 

of food safety. Article 23: The food safety supervision and management departments of the people's governments 

at or above the county level and other relevant departments, the Expert Committee on Food Safety Risk 

Assessment and its technical bodies shall, in accordance with the principles of science, objectivity, timeliness and 

openness, organise the exchange and communication of food safety risk assessment information and food safety 

information with the food production and operation operators, food inspection bodies, certification bodies, food 

industry associations, consumer associations and the news media. Supervision and management information 

exchange and communication. Article 28: National standards for food safety shall be formulated on the basis of 

the results of food safety risk assessments and with due regard to the results of risk assessments of the safety of 

food and agricultural products, with reference to relevant international standards and the results of international 

food safety risk assessments, and the draft national standards for food safety shall be made public, and the views 

of food producers and operators, consumers, and the relevant authorities shall be widely heard.), and in the absence 

of industry guidance and supervision, there is a real possibility that enterprises may over-emphasise economic 

benefits to the exclusion of their social responsibilities [36], which may lead to hidden dangers in food safety. 

3.3 Limitations of ex Post Facto Accountability 

Currently China's food safety supervision is still more focused on the aftermath of the pursuit of responsibility, its 

lag can only play a deterrent role rather than preventive effect, and the lack of deterrence will lead to some 

enterprises to take chances, the safety of prepared dishes occur from time to time, again challenging the degree of 

social trust, and then affect the development of the industry. 

3.3.1 Poor Relief 

China's Food Safety Law sets out in some detail the ex post facto responsibilities that should be borne by food 

producers and operators, such as the responsibility to recall and the liability to pay compensation. Food recall 

system refers to the government to take coercive measures or the enterprise independent of the existence of food 

safety risk of defective food recall and compensation system, food recall is to improve the quality of food is one 

of the important measures, but China's food recall system there are imperfect regulatory system, departmental 

supervision responsibilities are not clear and other problems, so the government to take the food recall measures 

the effectiveness of food recall measures often did not meet the expectations of the regulatory authorities [37]. 

Recall by enterprises can assume social responsibility, but usually need to bear higher costs, small and medium-

sized enterprises for practical considerations and brokerage rationality will often choose to avoid the responsibility 

to bear. Therefore, the recall system has not achieved the expected effect. 

3.3.2 Insufficient Deterrence of Penalties 

China's current food compensation liability for "pay ten times the price or loss of three times the compensation; 

increase the amount of compensation is less than one thousand yuan, for one thousand yuan" (Article 148, 

paragraph 2, of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China: If a producer produces food that does not 

conform to food safety standards or operates food that he or she knows does not conform to food safety standards, 

the consumer may, in addition to claiming compensation for losses, demand from the producer or operator payment 

of compensation in the amount of ten times the price or three times the loss; if the amount of the increased 

compensation is less than one thousand yuan, it shall be one thousand yuan. However, the labelling and instructions 

of the foodstuffs shall be exempted if there are defects that do not affect the safety of the foodstuffs and do not 

mislead the consumers.) , but because most of the food unit price is not high, the total amount of compensation for 

the total price is not high, compared to the enterprise profit is too low, can not play a deterrent effect. And in 

practice, it takes a lot of time and cost but can not get effective feedback [38], consumers out of rational 



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consideration will give up claiming "ten times compensation". As a result, the system has become a tool for 

professional counterfeiters, reducing the willingness of enterprises to compensate [39]. 

In summary, the current ex post and ex post remedies have certain limitations in terms of regulation, making it 

difficult to achieve the policy objectives, and local governments may relax the supervision of enterprises bearing 

policy burdens due to regulatory capture [40] and food safety is not conducive to the provision of a favourable 

market environment for consumers. 

3.4 Consumers' Right to Know Hampered 

The Consumer Survey Report on Prepared Dishes published by the Consumer Protection Commission of Jiangsu 

Province 2022 shows that nearly 30% of consumers are concerned about the food safety of prepared dishes  [41]. 

These concerns are not unfounded, but are due to the public's lack of understanding of the production process and 

product information about prepared dishes. The China Consumers' Association points out that "the lack of detailed 

labelling of pre-prepared dishes and the lack of notification of the use of pre-prepared dishes in takeaways and 

dine-ins have undermined consumers' right to know and right to choose." [42] And according to this questionnaire, 

only 17.49% of consumers reflected that merchants informed consumers when they used prepared dishes (Figure 

7), more than half of respondents reflected that merchants were not informed when they used prepared dishes 

(Figure 8), and 78.79% of respondents believed that the behaviour of "merchants not informing" violated their 

right to information (Figure 8). their right to know (Figure 9) 

 

Figure 7. Merchant Notification Statistics 

 

Figure 8. Merchant Prepared Dishes Usage Statistics 



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Figure 9. Respondents' Views on "Non-Information" Behaviours 

 

The inadequacy of our information disclosure rules infringes on the public's right to know, raises the cost of testing 

for the public, and in fact reduces the public's trust in official sources of information. In fact, it is difficult for 

consumers at the demand side to understand the production process and production standards at the supply side. 

Currently, China's product information disclosure rules are not yet perfect , and there is no mandatory disclosure 

requirement for information on the production process, which is of greater concern to consumers. Therefore, the 

public needs to pay a very high verification cost for food information, and because people "trust negative 

information more than positive information"when facing health issues [43], when facing public opinion on food 

safety, the public tends to question the authenticity of official information. During this survey, 67.22% of the 

respondents preferred to trust the media, friends and relatives and other "unofficial carriers", while 6.96% of the 

respondents indicated that they "do not trust any information carriers" (Figure 10). Some surveys also indicate that 

there are no information carriers in China that most consumers can trust [44]. 

 

Figure 10. Statistical chart of respondents' trust in information carriers 

 

To sum up, under the premise that the standard cannot provide basic protection, the industry cannot regulate itself, 

the deterrent strength of government regulation is insufficient, and a good market environment cannot be provided, 

and consumers do not have reliable information to trust, personal experience is more likely to become the most 



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reliable way of information screening, and low-quality prepared vegetables into the campus caused students to feel 

sick, and the restaurant uses prepared vegetables but "hides" the behaviour of the public for the food safety 

concerns of the prepared vegetable industry has become a trigger for negative emotions. Low-quality prepared 

vegetables entering the campus caused students' discomfort, and restaurants used prepared vegetables but "hid" 

their use, which became a trigger for negative emotions and magnified the public's concern about the food safety 

of the prepared vegetable industry. 

4. Exploration of the Solution Path to the Development Dilemma of the Prefabricated Vegetable Industry 

In response to the incident of prepared vegetables in schools, the Ministry of Education pointed out that "at present, 

there is no unified standard system, certification system, traceability system and other effective regulatory 

mechanisms for prepared vegetables" [45], in fact, is also the dilemma of the development of the prepared vegetable 

industry, the following is intended to be from the legislative level, the level of industry self-regulation, the level 

of government regulation and social supervision level. The following is intended to comprehensively analyse the 

solution path to the development dilemma of the prepared vegetable industry. 

4.1 Providing Regulatory Protection for the Prepared Vegetable Industry 

4.1.1Need to Develop a Series of Standards for the Production of Prepared Vegetables as soon as Possible 

China's prepared vegetable industry has been strongly supported by many official policies [1] [7], and the overall 

industry has shown a high-speed development trend , which has led to the current standardisation of China's 

standardisation work relatively lagging behind the rapid development of the prepared vegetable industry  [46]. At 

the same time, it must be admitted that the diversity of our food culture makes it more difficult to standardise the 

production process of the prepared food industry in China than in the US and Japan  [8]. 

However, only by formulating a series of standards for the prepared vegetable industry and regulating the quality 

standards in the field of prepared vegetables can we avoid a mixed market due to the industrial standards being in 

a vacuum [47] and thus provide the public with a market environment that can be fully trusted. The state should 

strengthen the research on the industry standard of prepared vegetables, clarify the concept of the subdivision of 

prepared vegetables, and expeditiously introduce the mandatory national standards that are closely linked with the 

market and urgently needed by enterprises, and build a perfect quality and safety system to clarify the basic bottom 

line of the production of prepared vegetables; and introduce the supporting recommended national standards or 

industry standards to guide the enterprises in scientific management of their business, and provide guidelines for 

the healthy development of the industry. 

4.1.2 Improving School Lunch Meal Standards 

Improving school lunch standards is a prerequisite for the rule of law for the entry of prepared dishes into schools. 

In view of the fact that the business model of some sub-categories of prepared dishes is consistent with the 

characteristics of the high demand for meals in primary and secondary schools in China, and is conducive to 

reducing the pressure on the independent preparation of meals on campuses, the sub-category should be supported 

to enter the campus under the condition of meeting the safety and nutritional value of meals. The implementation 

rate of Japan's school lunch programme is as high as 99% [48] , which not only improves the nutritional intake of 

Japanese students [49] [50], but also restricts the intake of unhealthy food [22], improves the quality of student 

diets, reduces the risk of obesity, and makes the overweight and obesity rate of Japanese children stay at a low 

level in the world [51]. Its school lunch system has strong reference value for our country. Japan has passed a 

series of bills and policies to support the school lunch programme [52], and the revision of its School Feeding Law 

not only updates the nutritional and hygiene standards of school meals [22], but also ensures that the meals 

delivered by the central kitchens are in line with the dietary standards through the deployment of professional 

nutrition teachers [53]. And the effectiveness of the U.S. school lunch policy has also been proven. The U.S. 

National School Lunch Program uses the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (hereinafter referred to as HHFKA) and 

its implementing regulations as a legal guarantee [54] and improves with the revision of the U.S. Dietary 

Guidelines [52] , and after the implementation of the HHFKA, the healthiness index of the students' meals has 

increased from 58% to 82% [55], and the quality of the school meals has been significantly improved. 

From the implementation of school lunch in the United States and Japan, a good school lunch programme can 

optimise the nutritional intake of students, enhance their physical and intellectual fitness [56], and safeguard their 

healthy growth. The incorporation of school feeding into the legal system is an important measure to ensure the 

stable development of the lunch programme. China has promulgated the "Dietary Guidelines for School-Age 

Children", but the guidelines do not have the force of law, and there are certain difficulties in implementation and 

supervision. Therefore, based on the nutritional requirements for school-age children's meals stipulated in the 



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Guidelines, China can formulate standards for school lunch meals and, taking into account the current situation of 

our society, specify the hardware conditions such as raw material standards, quality standards, nutritional standards, 

geographical locations of enterprises and hygienic standards, etc., of the catering services provided to schools. In 

this way, we can strictly screen the prepared food enterprises that enter schools to ensure the safety and nutritional 

value of school lunches, and avoid the poor implementation of the school lunch system due to the lack of 

regulations, which in turn raises parents' concerns and questions about the safety and nutritional value of school 

lunches. 

4.2 Strengthening Industry Self-Regulation in Accordance with the Law 

The irreplaceable comparative advantage of industry associations in making up for the deficiencies of the 

government and the market has become the consensus of the current academic community [57] [58] [59], which 

should expeditiously allow the Prepared Vegetable Industry Association to play the role of industry self-regulation 

and to guide the development of the Prepared Vegetable Industry. 

4.2.1 Improvement of Industry Self-Regulation is an Important Force for the Development of the Prefabricated 

Vegetable Industry 

Industry self-regulation is a model of social responsibility bearing centred on consumer welfare [60]. Firstly, 

industry associations provide technical guarantee for industry development. Industry associations formed by 

enterprises in this field know more about the current situation of the industry and the application technology of the 

industry, so the industrial group standards issued by them are more in line with the direction of industrial 

development, which helps enterprises improve the technical standards and the certification system, and provides a 

solid foundation for the prosperous development of the industry. Secondly, industry associations are more capable 

of solving industry problems. Compared with other supervisory bodies, industry associations are more likely to 

find problems in enterprises and are more capable of proposing implementable solutions, which is conducive to 

saving government resources. Finally, industry self-regulation can help avoid the "spillover effect" of social 

supervision. Appropriate enhancement of industry self-regulation can help relax consumers' demand for 

verifiability of information, thus avoiding consumers questioning the objectivity of information due to the high 

cost of verifying information [61], minimising irrationality in consumers' decision-making, and preventing 

consumers from expanding their "distrust" of the companies involved to an undifferentiated boycott of the whole 

industry. The industry is still in the development stage of prefabrication. Therefore, it is urgent for the national 

prefabricated vegetable industry alliance to introduce perfect industry standards and internal governance measures 

as soon as possible, and to play the role of a "leading sheep". 

4.2.2 Industry Associations Need to Return to Their Expected Role in Society 

The lack of clarity in the boundaries of governmental power has led to the current excessive pursuit of "official 

recognition" by China's food industry associations. The attitude of the administrative authorities is one of the key 

variables determining the response of China's food industry associations, and is even more influential on their 

behaviour than media attention [62]. This pursuit of "official recognition" makes the industry associations give up 

the independence and democracy in the operation process to a certain extent, and they can't really play the role of 

industry self-regulation [63] and realise the social co-governance. However, the public's perception of food 

industry associations comes from the exposure of food safety time, and their expectation of food industry 

associations is more "food safety public interest defender" [36]. As a consumer interests as the core of the prepared 

food industry associations should pay attention to change the role positioning, more in line with the role of the 

public expectations, timely response to the public's questioning, and in the necessary time to investigate and 

sanction the companies involved, to provide the necessary safety information. This will require not only clarifying 

the boundaries of the government's power, and setting up appropriate legal responsibilities for improper and illegal 

interventions, as well as a complete accountability process to prevent the association from becoming "quasi-

administrative" again, but also requiring the association to develop clear and specific guidelines and norms, as 

well as regular training and education, as well as acceptance of the association's social responsibility by the 

government, consumers, or public health advocates, There is also a need for trade associations to be subject to 

social scrutiny from government, consumers or public health advocates to prevent uncontrolled self-regulation[36]. 

4.3 Strengthening Risk Prevention and Regulation of the Prepared Vegetable Industry 

Government regulation in accordance with the law is a necessary way to promote food enterprises to assume 

responsibility for food safety and the bottom line guarantee [64]. China's food safety regulation is still based on ex 

post facto tracking [65], and this model is difficult to respond to the requirement of ex ante prevention of modern 

food risks such as prepared dishes, where consumers care more about the attribute of trust [66], so China needs to 

improve the law enforcement regulations of risk prevention in the prepared dish industry. 



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4.3.1 Existing Mechanisms Cannot be Effectively Utilised 

Risk analysis and assessment (RAA) is one of the most internationally recognised forms of preventive food safety 

control [68] [69] [70] [71]. It has been shown that the implementation of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control 

Point (hereinafter referred to as HACCP) system has been urgent in the field of food safety, and the plan can ensure 

food quality and safety more economically [72]. Article 17 of China's Food Safety Law clearly stipulates that 

China applies risk assessment regulatory methods in the food sector. The new version of the Hazard Analysis and 

Critical Control Point (HACCP) System Certification Implementation Rules released by the CNCA in 2021 

extends the scope of HACCP mechanism certification to storage, logistics and trade, which are important links in 

the supply chain [73], but the real role of HACCP needs to ensure the credibility of the data. And the encryption 

of blockchain prevents the possibility of data falsification [74], blockchain technology should be applied to the 

HACCP system in the prepared vegetable industry in order to avoid missing the best time for early warning due 

to data tampering. 

4.3.2 Improvement of the Mechanism of the Traceability System to Assist in the Determination of Legal 

Responsibility 

Risk ex ante prevention requires not only a correct assessment of risk, but also a sound traceability data system to 

ensure attribution of responsibility. However, China's overall performance in the assessment of traceability 

regulations is poor [75]. The epidemic has led to a generalised trend in the application of traceability systems in 

China [76]. And due to the large number of systems and inconsistent requirements, the duplication of reporting, 

testing, and code assignment work in fact lengthens the process of product circulation and aggravates the operating 

costs of enterprises [77]. The mode of segmented supervision will also lead to "no one cares" or "rush to care" in 

the final pursuit of responsibility, which reduces the performance and use value of the traceability system [78]. 

Therefore, on the basis of China's existing food traceability platform, the state for the current platform for 

upgrading, unified traceability system needs to be registered in the production, transport, storage of relevant 

information, and will be around the system and the national food traceability platform link to ensure the traceability 

of food responsibility is more feasible. 

Applying blockchain technology to food traceability systems. Traceability, often defined as the ease with which a 

product can be traced throughout the supply chain, is extremely dependent on reliable information [75]. Currently 

used centralised systems also suffer from the same flaws of information forgery [79], and are unable to achieve 

the collection of traceability information in a trustless environment to ensure information security and reliable 

traceability. Therefore, it is inevitable that it cannot establish an effective trust mechanism between the 

stakeholders of the prepared vegetable industry who need quality traceability [80]. Therefore, the traceability 

system of the prepared vegetable industry also needs the effective application of blockchain technology, using the 

tamper-proof nature of blockchain to improve the transparency and traceability of information acquisition  [75] [80], 

reduce human intervention, not only provide a mechanism of trust for industry stakeholders, but also facilitate the 

government's responsibility determination. 

4.3.3 Improvement of the Country's Rapid Early Warning Mechanism to Prevent the Spread of Risks 

Risk assessment is to determine whether there is an ex ante risk, while traceability mechanisms are for timely 

accountability after an ex ante risk has been identified, but neither of them conveys information about the risk and 

draws the attention of the local government, members of the industry, and the community at large. 

A food safety alert is an advance warning of a possible threat to human health in a food product or of the impact 

of a major decision on a country or a company [81]. The EU has constructed a relatively perfect EU rapid early 

warning system for food and feed, which can help member states to collect and exchange information [68], prevent 

the spread of risky food in member states, and guarantee the food safety within the EU. China can refer to the EU's 

related mechanisms to improve our rapid early warning mechanism related regulations, such as coverage, warning 

frequency and classification, according to different levels of prepared vegetables risk to take response mode, in 

saving government resources at the same time, to prevent the proliferation of prepared vegetables safety events. 

4.4 Improving Information Disclosure 

The food safety incident of China's prepared vegetables in schools revealed that the public's high sensitivity to 

negative news about the prepared vegetable industry stems from the opacity of the relevant information, and even 

more so from the lack of information disclosure rules. The reduced level of trust will also inhibit the effectiveness 

of government regulation [82]. Therefore, there is an urgent need to broaden the sources of reliable information. 

Only through the improvement of information disclosure rules to rebuild consumer trust in information, social 

supervision can operate effectively. In the measures to solve food safety problems, the importance of social 



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supervision is often mentioned, and the government is required to further disclose information to ensure the smooth 

flow of information and to mobilise the enthusiasm and initiative of social participation [83], but it is neglected 

that the prerequisite for the effective operation of social supervision is a high degree of accuracy of information 

related to the whole industry [61], and in the absence of perfect rules for the disclosure of information, consumer 

confidence can partly be rebuilt by providing more information related to food quality or safety to the consumers. 

information related to food quality or safety to partially rebuild consumer confidence. In Japan, QR codes and 

other methods are used to disclose all traceability information of food products to the public, and in an interview 

in Japan, 20% of the respondents regarded the existence of food traceability information as a sign of ensuring food 

safety [84], which demonstrates that traceability systems not only have the attribute of information provision, but 

also have a strong attribute of trust among consumers. The EU's strict product disclosure rules also reduce the 

public's cost of information confirmation and raise the level of participation in social supervision [85]. Referring 

to the experience of Japan and the EU, it can be seen that effective disclosure of product information can actually 

increase the level of public trust. 58.2% of the respondents also supported this view (Figure 11), so it is urgent for 

China to refer to the EU to formulate clear product disclosure rules, but for the time being, by opening up the food 

traceability system based on blockchain technology to the public, it can in fact be used as a kind of quality 

assurance signal to help the public to build trust in products and reduce the scope of negative public opinion. 

 

Figure 11. Statistical graph of the impact of food traceability system on respondents' willingness to buy 

 

Guaranteeing the independence of social supervision helps to improve the strength of government regulation. The 

healthy development of prefabricated dishes requires full utilisation of the independence of social supervision. 

Although the lowering of the level of trust will inhibit the effectiveness of government regulation, social 

supervision will not result in regulatory capture due to policy considerations[40] Good social supervision can not 

only give high-quality positive feedback to enterprises, but also compel the government to increase the intensity 

of punishment, which will help to realise the legislative purpose of "social co-regulation". This will help to realise 

the purpose of the legislation on "social co-rule". 

In summary, to ensure the long-term healthy development of the prepared vegetable industry is a complex project 

that requires the joint efforts of many parties. It is not only necessary to formulate unified national standards for 

prepared vegetables and industry standards in terms of legislation, as well as to improve the relevant regulations 

on school lunch to regulate the development of the prepared vegetable industry; it is also necessary for the industry 

to establish a national industry association with accurate role positioning as soon as possible to lead the industry's 

high-quality development. Not only does the government need to further improve the existing laws and regulations 

on the basis of the use of blockchain technology to improve the HACCP system, food traceability system and early 

warning mechanism to respond to the risk of the prepared food industry prior to the prevention of the requirements; 

but also need to comply with the rules and regulations to the public to open the food traceability system in order 



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to rebuild the confidence of consumers in the industry, so as to better play a role in the social supervision, to 

achieve the social co-management. 

5. Concluding Remarks 

With the epidemic as well as the lazy economy, the prepared vegetable industry has ushered in a blowout period 

of rapid development. However, the lack of standards and legal regulations, the actual absence of industry 

associations, the industry's overemphasis on risk prevention, and the lack of transparency of food information have 

made it difficult for the public to place sufficient trust in the prepared vegetable industry. Therefore, the prepared 

vegetable industry is more likely to cause negative public opinion. Taking into account China's specific national 

conditions, this paper argues that the sustainable development of the prepared food industry needs to rely on the 

joint efforts of the state to improve legislation, industry associations to correctly guide the industry, the government 

to change the regulatory model, and to rebuild consumer confidence. 

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