Eating and ordering takeout has become the lifestyle of many young people. Data show that the scale of China’s catering industry exceeded 4 trillion yuan in 2018, of which the takeout revenue exceeded 300 billion yuan, accounting for 7.5% of the national catering market. But is your takeout healthy enough? This question has left nutritionists worried. Recently, the 2019 China Nutrition Society-Yum Brands Catering Health Foundation Annual Meeting and the 12th Catering Health Academic Symposium with the theme of "Catering Innovation and Nutrition Health" was held in Hangzhou, and Internet catering health has become a hot topic of concern for experts. Chen Junshi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, pointed out that in recent years, takeout has emerged in the catering industry, and the number of people eating out is increasing. How to make takeout more nutritious and balanced needs to innovate the health education model.
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Hot and sour potato shreds top the takeaway list
According to the "Internet Catering Status Survey" conducted by Dr. Xu Weisheng of the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control, there are more than 1 billion online ordering users worldwide, of which China’s online ordering turnover accounts for 40%, ranking first in the world. Internet catering has entered a period of maturity and deepening, and the scale of takeaway transactions has maintained an annual growth rate of more than 20%. In 2018, the scale of Chinese catering exceeded 4 trillion, and takeaway exceeded 300 billion yuan. There are more than 11 million online restaurants in China, of which about 4 million are takeaway restaurants, with a penetration rate of 36.3%.
According to the data analytics of the Ele.me platform in 2018, although the proportion of users ordering takeaway every day or the next day is only 5%, the number of users ordering more than 200 times a year has exceeded 10 million. Takeaway orders are mainly for lunch and dinner. The national per capita customer unit price is mainly 20-39 yuan. Orders with a customer unit price of more than 100 yuan increased by 56% year-on-year in 2017.
Through the data mining analysis of takeaway orders, Xu Weisheng found that people’s overall meat consumption is high, aquatic product consumption is low, and there are more fried and spicy foods.
Interestingly, in the list of the top ten online meals ordered for lunch and dinner on the Internet, "hot and sour potato shredded" firmly occupies the first position. In addition, burgers, fried chicken fins, and shark-flavored shredded meat also make the list. "Long-term high-frequency consumption of high-oil and high-salt foods may increase health risks such as overweight, obesity, and hypertension. It is recommended that citizens should increase the amount of vegetable food when ordering takeout, and catering companies should also increase the supply of such food." Xu Weisheng advised.
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Internet catering health attracts attention
The Chinese Nutrition Society – Yum! Brands Catering Health Fund was jointly established by the Chinese Nutrition Society and Yum! Brands China to support food health and nutrition science research.
The reporter found that among the projects funded in 2018, the nutrition and health of eating out became a hot topic. Ma Wenjun, director of the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Public Health, reported at the meeting that he is working with Guangdong University of Technology to "Eat Out Nutrition Evaluation APP" to try to build a Cantonese food database and train artificial intelligence image recognition technology, allowing users to identify dietary nutrients and obtain nutritional guidance by taking pictures through the APP. Professor Fan Zhihong of China Agricultural University also pointed out at the meeting that the survey shows that compared with eating at home, the intake of fat and sodium is higher, which increases the risk of hypertension and obesity. It is recommended to improve the nutritional environment of catering and promote nutritional health.
The special project fund will give priority to two research directions this year, namely the innovative technology of the catering industry in the "three reduction" and the construction of healthy restaurants. Among the 60 project applications, the expert team reviewed and voted by the fund management committee. Finally, 7 projects including "Research on the Status of Online Food Ordering and Nutrition and Health Issues of College Students" and "Development of a mobile end evaluation system for the nutritional environment of new catering units of your choice" were funded by the fund.
Professor Yang Yuexin, Chairman of the Chinese Nutrition Society, Academician Chen Junshi of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Professor Yang Xiaoguang, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Nutrition Society, Professor Su Yixiang, Honorary Director, Ms. Wang Lizhi, Chief Public Affairs Officer of Yum China, and more than 100 experts and scholars from the field of nutrition and health, representatives of relevant government departments and media representatives attended the meeting. According to the data released by the conference, as of this year, the special project fund has funded more than 70 scientific research projects, with a total funding amount of more than 18 million yuan.
Yan Huifang, reporter of Nanfang Daily
