The "Lanzhou Beef Noodle Production License Review Rules" (hereinafter referred to as the review rules) formulated by the Gansu Provincial Market Supervision Administration was officially released recently and will come into force on October 10, which has attracted the attention of the industry. Proponents said that in the face of the mass listing of "prefabricated" beef noodles, food safety supervision must also "have laws to follow" in order to better protect "safety on the tip of the tongue"; However, some people in the industry believe that such a "license review" is actually an endorsement of the development of "pre-made dishes" and "pre-made meals", and they are worried about whether "machine ramen" will make Lanzhou beef noodles lose their "soul".
The review rules stipulate that "Lanzhou beef noodles subject to food production license management refer to products made with noodles and beef soup as the main raw materials, adding oil chili, sauce (marinated) beef, vegetables, brewed vinegar, etc., and pre-quantitatively packaging" and "these detailed rules apply to the review of the production license of pre-packaged Lanzhou beef noodles, and other beef noodles and ramen can be implemented with reference to these detailed rules".
The main contents of the review rules include eight parts, including the scope of certified products and certification units, basic production processes and key control links, and necessary production resources. Among them, in the basic production process, production equipment, etc., it is stipulated that "calendering (or not calendering)" molding, and the molding facilities are "slicing (strip) machines, calenders, tools, etc."
A person in charge of a Lanzhou beef noodle chain operation enterprise believes that the "soul" of Lanzhou beef noodles is hand-pulled, and it is necessary to manually mix noodles, knead noodles and ramen noodles by the ramen master, and in the kneading process, it is necessary to "three times water, three times ash, nine nine eighty-one times of kneading", in order to pull out a variety of unique noodle types such as capillary, leek, two fine, and large width, reflecting the authentic flavor of Lanzhou beef noodles with strong soup flavor and gluten flavor. According to the requirements of the review rules, only industrialized products of "beef instant noodles" or "beef pressed noodles" can be made.
Lanzhou beef noodles are well-known Chinese fast food at home and abroad, and the development of the industry has attracted much attention from all walks of life. "Lanzhou Beef Noodle Ramen Technique" has been included in the National Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. However, there are also development difficulties such as small-scale operation of shops along the street and "category without brand".
At the beginning of this year, a number of enterprises took advantage of the development of the prefabricated vegetable industry, hoping to let Lanzhou beef noodles enter more markets and family tables through "prefabricated noodles" and "prefabricated soup". It is precisely considering the needs of the future development of the "prefabricated industry" of Lanzhou beef noodles that the local government has formulated the review rules.
Relevant people said that the prefabricated market may bring broader development space for Lanzhou beef noodles. However, Lanzhou beef noodles should maintain the traditional quality category after entering the e-commerce track and prefabricated track, in order to win the recognition of consumers, handmade ramen changed to the administrative license of "pressing noodles" and "cutting noodles" with machinery and equipment, which is not in line with industry traditions, contrary to the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, and will also make Lanzhou beef noodles lose their "soul". As a market supervision department, it should focus on strictly implementing laws and regulations, strengthening the supervision of the whole production process and the whole process, and do not need to set up additional licenses.
Kang Jin (Source: Workers' Daily)
Kangjin