Employees at Dalian Gaishi Food Co deal with seaweed for premade dishes at the company's factory in Dalian, Liaoning province, in January 2021. [Photo/China Daily]

Quality matters

"Quality is crucial to premade food companies," Yun of Lufeng said.

Lufeng implements comprehensive quality and safety control management throughout the production process, from sourcing raw materials to packaging.

The company has developed over 300 hectares of standardized farmland to produce fruits and vegetables and 22 high-standard farms for raising poultry.

"By developing our own farms, we are able to guarantee food safety from the raw materials," said Yun.

Gai also emphasized the importance of food quality.

"Food has different attributes compared to other industrial products, and each country has specific standards for food imports," he said.

Companies looking to export must conduct thorough research on the food quality standards of different countries, he added.

While expanding overseas, premade food companies have also started to tap the domestic market with quality products as Chinese consumers are increasingly demanding premade foods.

China's premade food market reached 419.6 billion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 21.3 percent. It is estimated that the market will reach 1.072 trillion yuan by 2026, according to the white paper released at the Foshan conference.

"The premade food industry has just started. We have been developing overseas markets with advanced management and production techniques for three decades, which gives us an advantage to tap the domestic markets with quality products," said Shandong Nichirei's Koizumi.

"In the future, we will expand the domestic market by offering products of the same quality as those (that are) exported," Koizumi said.

Gaishi started developing the domestic market several years ago, which has contributed to the overall growth of the company's business.

Gaishi's semiannual report showed a total revenue of 226 million yuan for the first half of 2023, a year-on-year growth of 28.79 percent.

In 2018, the company contributed to the revision of a national food safety basic standard for seaweed and edible fungi, aligning the "seaweed salad" product standard with international standards, allowing seaweed salad to be sold domestically.

Gai said having a bestselling single food item greatly contributes to building brand influence, and its seaweed salad holds great significance for the company.

Sources from the Dalian Administration for Market Regulation said that the city has formed eight premade food clusters, covering various categories, such as seafood, fruits and vegetables, poultry and livestock.

Among these, aquatic products account for 46 percent of the total, with seaweed being the largest single product.