The 4th China Leisure Food Industry Development Summit Forum, sponsored by the Leisure Food Processing Technology Branch of the Chinese Food Science and Technology Association, was held in Beijing recently. More than 300 delegates from various fields of leisure food industry talked freely about the current situation, problems, development opportunities and challenges of leisure food in China, focusing on the theme of how to realize the natural, nutritional, health, green, diverse, cross-border, integration and innovation of leisure food in China. Experts at the meeting pointed out that "establishing brand awareness is the key to the success of leisure food enterprises, and characteristics and differentiation are the focus of leisure food enterprises'development."

The future of leisure food industry focuses on characteristics and innovation

Leisure food, also known as "road food", refers to a kind of non-dinner Fast-consuming food, which is made of grain and oil, fruits and vegetables, livestock and poultry, aquatic products and characteristic agricultural products by traditional or modern processing technology. It refers to a kind of ready-to-eat food that people eat in leisure, rest or travel. According to the different types of raw materials and processing technology, leisure food can be divided into eight categories: puffing, baking, fruits and vegetables. In the document No. 1 of the Central Committee of 2017 on "Accelerating the Development of Modern Food Industry", special mention was made of "vigorously developing convenience food, leisure food, quick-frozen food and potato staple food products". Experts at the meeting pointed out that the introduction of these documents reflects the great importance attached by the state to the development of the food industry, including the leisure food industry.

However, it must be admitted that despite the rapid development of China's leisure food industry in recent years, there are still many problems, such as the overall size of enterprises is small and scattered, the industry threshold is low; there are a wide range of products, brand awareness is not strong, product market competitiveness is weak; enterprise research and development capacity is insufficient, lack of innovative technology and products; Homogenization is more serious, price competition is fierce, and profit margin is less.

Meng Suhe, chairman of the Chinese Food Science and Technology Association, said in his speech, "If China's leisure food wants to develop, it must have the characteristics of Oriental food, must have creative things, and must embody a good food of Chinese dietary culture." In Meng Suhe's view, to develop the leisure food industry, the positioning of enterprises and products is the most important. In addition, we should pay attention to the cross-integration of different fields and the innovation of equipment.

Leisure food may become the fourth meal

The round table forum of the conference talked freely about the development of China's leisure food industry. It is believed that with the development of economy and society, the acceleration of work rhythm and the improvement of quality of life, people's eating habits are also changing. Leisure food is becoming the fourth meal of "three meals a day" while satisfying consumers'entertainment and leisure needs.

Expert analysis shows that the fast development of leisure food industry has four driving forces:

Firstly, industry development is promoted. The rapid development of agricultural products processing and food manufacturing industry has played an important role in promoting the development of leisure food industry. Second, market demand is driving. With the rapid economic growth and the gradual improvement of people's living standards, the diversification of consumption patterns and the rapid development of tourism in China, the leisure food industry has ushered in a new period of strategic opportunities for rapid development. Third, consumer demand is driving. With the increasing diversification and leisure of people's consumption patterns, especially after the post-90s, post-00s and post-10s entered the mainstream consumer groups, leisure food has become a new favorite in people's daily food consumption. Fourth, health needs are driving. With the development of healthy China, nutritional health has become the main theme of the development of food industry. The consumption pattern of leisure food with hobby and food and clothing as the main body has gradually changed to nutritional, healthy and functional.

The forum focused on the research and development of recreational food with nutrition, health and function, which attracted wide attention of participants.