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Food Science and Nutrition (Poster Session)

(P09-041-24) Nutritional Characteristics of Ready Meals in China: A Cross-Sectional Study

Sunday, June 30, 2024
12:45 PM – 1:45 PM CT
Location: Poster Board 319
Disclosure(s):
Tengyi Wang, Master of Public Health: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Yuze Xin, Graduate Student: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Kristy K. Law, BNutrDiet, GDipIntlHealth: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: The study aims to describe nutrients, nutritional quality, food additives, and process level of ready meals available from major Chinese online shopping websites.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of analyzing eligible ready meals scrapped from four major Chinese online shopping websites, including Taobao, JD, Vipshop and Suning. Ready meals are defined by the group standard issued by The China Cuisine Association, comprising “ready to eat food”, “ready to cook food”, “ready to heat food” and “ready prepared food”. Information about nutrient composition, ingredients, manufacture was extracted from the product photos available from the websites. Each ready meal product was categorized by storage condition, cooking state, food group and process level. Food additives in each product were categorized according to the standards for the use of food additives in China. Continuous and categorical variables are described using means (standard deviation [SD]) or median (inter-quartile range [IQR]) and proportions respectively.

Results: There were a total of 4,403 products included in the analysis after the eligibility check and removing the duplicates. The median energy density was 879.0KJ/100g (IQR 494.0-1342.0), with protein content at 10.4g/100g (IQR 4.8-17.7), fat content at 9.9g/100g (IQR 3.0-17.7), carbohydrate content at 8.9g/100g (IQR 3.8-24.2), and sodium content at 747.0mg/100g (IQR 432.0-1335.5). The mean Health Star Rating (HSR) was 2.86±1.20. Among all ready meals, less than half (43.3%) were classified as healthier products (HSR ≥3.5), while nearly 90% (89.7%) were categorized as ultra-processed foods. There were 34.3% of ready meals contained more than 6 food additives. The leading six food additives identified were flavor enhancers, stabilizers and coagulants, acidity regulators, edible fragrances, and antioxidants.<

Conclusions: Chinese ready meals are high in sodium, widespread use of additives, overly processing, and exhibit low nutritional quality. Enhancing the awareness of Chinese consumers about the nutritional aspects of ready meals, and aiding in the discernment of healthier options, is thus imperative for mitigating the incidence of diet-related chronic non-communicable diseases in China.

Funding Sources: The study is funded by Harbin Medical University Leading Disciplinary Talent Program (31021220002).