The hottest refrigeration industry denounces bulk

The freezing industry has denounced bulk selling

although "bulk selling" has become an important sales method of quick-frozen food in China, and this method has been accepted by some consumers. However, the debate in the industry has never stopped since its emergence, and both experts in the scientific and technological circles and entrepreneurs are deeply worried about it. Not long ago, at the Fifth Symposium on the development of frozen and refrigerated food industry hosted by the China Society of food science and technology, insiders pointed out that the vicious competition of quick-frozen food caused by "bulk selling" has almost become out of control, and manufacturers have paid a painful price for this. Therefore, it is urgent to regulate the market and stop retail sales, otherwise the industry, enterprises and consumers will be damaged. The vicious competition is worrying

after more than ten years of development, China's quick-frozen food industry has formed an industrial scale with an annual output of 15million tons, which is increasing at a rate of 15% per year, exceeding the average growth rate of 11% - 12% per year in the food industry, and has formed a number of national well-known brands such as "Longfeng", "Sanquan" and "missing". However, due to the relatively low technology and capital threshold of frozen food, a large number of quick-frozen food production enterprises have emerged throughout the country in recent years, with a wide range of products with mixed qualities flooding the market. The quick-frozen dumplings produced by large enterprises with an output value of hundreds of millions and self-employed households with an investment of thousands of yuan are competing on the five foot counter, and the vicious competition is becoming increasingly fierce. In particular, the emergence of the form of "selling any equipment in bulk may cause some failures due to various reasons" makes the vicious competition more disordered

"bulk" as a way of selling quick-frozen food to reduce costs and increase sales, first appeared in China and has developed for two years. The so-called "bulk" is not that there is no packaging, but that the manufacturer enters the store in large packaging, such as 5 kg packaging, and then pours it into the freezer. Consumers can choose and buy it as needed. In the two years since Beijing Ruida quick frozen food Co., Ltd. sent the first batch of bulk quick-frozen dumplings to Beijing Huatang supermarket in 2001, bulk quick-frozen food, especially quick-frozen dumplings, has blossomed all over the country, and stores and supermarkets, regardless of size, local or foreign, have flocked to it. Almost all quick-frozen food manufacturers, without exception, are involved in the "bulk" war sweeping across China. The bulk food counters are getting larger and larger, and there are more and more varieties of bulk food. Quick frozen food in bulk once became an important guarantee for businesses or enterprises to achieve sales, causing a huge impact on the standardized production of bagged products

most people in the industry hold a negative attitude towards bulk dumplings, especially a large number of heads of quick-frozen food enterprises and experts in the scientific and technological field, but it is an indisputable fact that the vast majority of these enterprises produce bulk dumplings. Some well-known enterprise bosses said that the production of bulk dumplings is a helpless move to maintain market share

although most manufacturing enterprises have been aware of the potential crisis of bulk products in the past two years, they are unable to coordinate and boycott bulk products in the whole industry. No one is willing to give in to the market under the current situation that there is no clear national standard to restrict bulk products. The boss of a famous frozen food enterprise in Beijing said, "we have proved through experiments that frozen food is not suitable for sale in bulk. After the emergence of bulk food in the Beijing market, we 'carried' it for six months, losing 8million yuan. We were forced to go in bulk and became the top seller of quick-frozen dumplings in Beijing. However, I am very worried about this. If the core competitiveness of the enterprise is only reflected in the means of sales, the future is very slim." The person in charge of "Sanquan" said that enterprises spend tens of millions of advertising fees every year to brand. After 500g becomes 5000g, the brand desalinates, and the enterprise is not willing

Meng Suhe, Secretary General of the China Association of food science and technology, pointed out that in the future, the consumption of the market is brand consumption. "Longfeng", "missing" and "Sanquan" are well-known national brands formed after years of careful cultivation, which are valuable wealth and hope for the frozen food industry. The temporary benefits gained by "bulk" are at the expense of the brand, and at the same time, it has become a breeding ground for many fake and shoddy products, and the gains outweigh the losses

the harm of selling in bulk is infinite

experts pointed out that quick-frozen food has a strict definition, and the central temperature must reach below minus 18 ℃ in a short time, which is essentially different from ordinary refrigerator freezing. Bulk sales make some enterprises that do not have quick freezing equipment drive the good with the bad, easily enter the market and disrupt the market

the retail sale of quick-frozen food is harmful, mainly in the following aspects:

first, it is harmful to consumers. The food safety of unpackaged quick-frozen food is worrying. The requirements for quality assurance of quick-frozen food are relatively strict. The condition temperature of bulk stores cannot meet the conditions of selling cold chains, and there is no package, which has a large contact area with the air, resulting in water evaporation, product dryness, oxidation and rancidity of oils and fats. Serious quality problems will occur for a long time, and lead to unsafe consumption. At the same time, bulk products are sold in the freezer, the upper part is constantly sold, the lower part forms a dead corner, and the shelf life is in vain. An enterprise conducted an experiment in which bacteria Petri dishes were placed on the surface of bulk dumplings. After an hour, the bacteria reached an uncountable level

the second is harm to enterprises. The brand established by the manufacturer who has worked hard for many years and spent a lot of money on advertising has been diluted in the retail counter. Brand conscious consumers can only recognize what brand is on the label that is almost invisible in the corner of the freezer, and a large number of consumers have forgotten the brand, thus providing an opportunity for fake and shoddy products. Some manufacturers revealed that some well-known brands were greatly impacted, and the purchase volume in some hypermarkets was significantly reduced, but the market reflected that there was sufficient supply. The reason turned out to be the illegal operation of the store. In the counter of a well-known brand, it may start to sell genuine goods, but it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity of those that are constantly added. The store profited from it, and the interests of manufacturers and consumers were seriously damaged. At the same time, the cost saved by omitting packaging is difficult to make up for the increase in bulk sales expenses. In order to sell in bulk, enterprises should provide refrigerators and set up promoters for the stores, and the increase in these expenses should be deducted from the cost. In other words, when consumers buy cheap bulk products, they don't get real benefits

the third is harming the industry. Enterprises suffer from this vicious competition. There are even dumplings with more than two yuan and a kilogram in supermarkets, which is difficult to understand from the normal cost calculation. Insiders revealed the inside story: bulk selling has become the umbrella of some illegal traders. Some enterprises simply do not have the conditions for quick-frozen production. Relying on a few freezers and hiring a few farmers, they can produce "bulk" dumplings in a simple workshop. At present, when they enter the market, they are labeled as the branch production of a well-known enterprise. Even in some areas, there are "factories" without any production workshops and equipment. The boss distributes the prepared stuffing and flour to the farmers' homes, and asks them to wrap it up and freeze it in their fridges to collect it. The so-called "quick-frozen dumplings" produced without any health protection are also openly placed in the bulk freezers of some supermarkets. In addition, in order to reduce costs, some non-standard enterprises replace pork with soybean flour and lard, and then enter the market at a very low price. This vicious competition has caused a huge impact on regular manufacturers. Without the guarantee of basic profits, enterprises often sacrifice quality as the price. At the same time, it is difficult to guarantee the R & D ability, so that enterprises lose their hematopoietic function and can't keep up with the development of new products. In the long run, consumers lose confidence in products, and the development of the industry will fall into a dangerous situation

Mr. Hideo otachang, from the Japan frozen food association, said that frozen food has developed in Japan for many years, has been highly recognized by consumers, and has become one of the most influential industries in the food industry. In Japan, the definition of frozen food includes the word "packaging". Products without packaging cannot be called frozen food, let alone allowed to be sold. This is determined by the special process requirements of frozen food, and it is against the scientific practice to have a large number of retail sales in China

industry consensus rejects bulk

it can be said that "bulk selling" has made the emerging frozen food industry suffer a lot, and enterprises and even the industry have paid a heavy price for it. During the two years of pulling the black knob, which was called "nightmare" by Ye Huide, chairman of "dragon and phoenix", some large enterprises with original brands and strength have been forced to withdraw from the market under vicious competition, and the lesson can be described as profound; Some well-known brands did not increase or even decline their profits in the case of soaring sales; Product quality has not improved with the progress of science and technology, but has declined as a whole under the pressure of constantly reducing costs, and some consumers are losing. At this meeting, it has become the consensus of the industry to withdraw "bulk selling" from the frozen food market. Some experts pointed out that the phenomenon of retail sales is temporary and will disappear with the maturity of the industry and the rationality of consumers. The government should be called on to formulate relevant standards as soon as possible to shorten this process as much as possible. At the same time, it is suggested that the scientific and technological community should popularize consumers' knowledge of quick-frozen food through the media from the perspective of scientific consumption, and do not buy bulk dumplings just for the sake of being cheap and convenient, which will eventually damage their rights and interests

the upcoming market access system for quick-frozen flour and rice products may be a long-awaited opportunity for the industry. Therefore, the person in charge of the product market access division of the product quality supervision department of the General Administration of quality supervision, inspection and Quarantine of the people's Republic of China was specially invited at this meeting. After listening to the opinions of experts from the business and scientific and technological circles on bulk frozen food, they said that the heads of state of the two cities jointly concluded that the market access system for the development of China Mongolia relations is the basic threshold for protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and standardizing the market, and the voice of enterprises will be used as a reference for the government to formulate policies. They entrusted the frozen and refrigerated food branch of the Chinese Academy of food science and technology to provide specific information in order to take the voice of science as the basis for policy management. The industry expects that bulk frozen food should be forcibly withdrawn from the market in the opportunity brought by the market access system

source: China Packaging