emergency foodIt refers to a kind of food used to maintain human survival in emergencies such as disasters, wars and crashes. Common emergency foods mainly include earthquake relief emergency foods, military emergency foods, civil emergency foods and M9 outdoor emergency foods. Due to the late start of research and development,There is still a certain gap between China’s emergency food and developed countries such as the United States and Japan in processing and packaging, nutritional characteristics, food safety and other key technologies.
At present, the problems caused by the insufficient development of emergency food have initially appeared. First of all, during or after natural disasters, food in disaster areas and other affected areas may be contaminated by microorganisms and chemicals, and some food-borne diseases, including hepatitis A, typhoid fever and a series of intestinal diseases, such as cholera and dysentery, are prone to break out, thus affecting the health of victims and the effect of disaster relief.
Secondly, due to the imperfect design of emergency food formula,Its nutritional structure is difficult to meet the nutritional supply needs of specific people.It is difficult to predict the time and place of some emergencies, which also leads to the traditional supply chain processing equipment and storage and transportation system can not meet the stable supply and accurate distribution of emergency food, which makes the rescue efficiency decline.
This paper summarizes the types and characteristics of emergency food, the development status of product development, storage and transportation, processing and packaging technology, and looks forward to the research and development strategy, processing, storage and transportation strategy and food safety of emergency food in order to provide new ideas for the development of emergency food industry in China.
Types and characteristics of emergency food
With the frequent occurrence of emergencies around the world, the demand for emergency food is increasing. In order to better meet the nutritional needs of different rescue scenes and people, and combined with the laws of emergency food diversity, high energy density, storability and convenience for eating, a variety of common emergency food types have appeared in recent years, including canned food, compressed dry food, instant hot food, dehydrated food, etc. The advantages and disadvantages of different types of emergency food are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Advantages and disadvantages of different types of emergency food
Emergency food has the following characteristics:
(1) Long shelf life: Emergency foods usually have a long shelf life to ensure edibility in emergency situations;
(2) Rich nutrition: under the premise of meeting basic energy, emergency food pays more attention to the functionality and special dietary effect of food according to the needs of the target rescue population;
(3) Portable: Emergency foods are usually packaged in light packages to quickly respond to emergencies;
(4) Food safety: Due to the harsh and changeable emergency rescue environment, the food safety of emergency food is very important.
When selecting emergency food types, it is necessary to make reasonable selection and planning according to disaster types, storage conditions, crowd demand and transportation environment. At the same time,Emergency food should be inspected and updated regularly to ensure food safety.
Development status of emergency food products
In recent years, China’s emergency food has developed steadily in terms of shelf life, taste, flavor and safety, but there is still a big gap compared with foreign countries. The shortcomings include:
(1) Low comprehensive performance. The diversity, nutrition and safety of emergency food need to be further strengthened;
（2）Functional development is limited.Due to the lack of practical experience in functional development and the lack of clear supervision and guidance standards, it is difficult for enterprises to carry out effective innovation and development;
（3）The production cost is high.The research and development of key technologies and formulas of emergency food are lagging behind and the added value is low, which leads to its lack of core competitiveness and affects production costs.
With the increasing market demand for serialized, functional, long shelf life and full nutrition emergency foods, continuous optimization, innovation and enrichment of R&D categories have become the key to the development of emergency foods.
With the development of science and technology,Emergency food is paying more and more attention to functions other than satiety and special dietary effects.Adding some ingredients or nutrients with special physiological functions to raw materials can enhance the overall functionality of emergency food.
At present, China’s self-developed "China 05 compressed food" has many functions, such as improving intestinal health, fighting hunger and promoting physical recovery, which greatly improves the efficiency of emergency rescue. Internationally, the United States has successfully developed military functional foods with different functions, such as anti-altitude sickness, anti-fatigue, refreshing the mind, quickly replenishing energy, improving intestinal function, etc. In order to meet the needs of different groups of people, modular foods with mineral modules, vitamin modules and energy modules have also been developed. Japan’s One Table Company has developed an emergency rescue jelly that is beneficial to swallowing, taking into account the people of all ages, so as to meet the needs of the elderly and children for quick nutrition supplement.
High-intensity rescue work in emergency rescue often makes rescuers in a state of physical and mental fatigue and overwork, which leads to inattention, weakened resistance and reduced work efficiency. Therefore,It is necessary to develop emergency food to delay or eliminate fatigue.
Hao Limin and others designed an anti-fatigue beverage formula, which was composed of oligosaccharides, taurine, caffeine, effervescent and other materials. It was processed into effervescent tablets by mixing, granulating, drying, cooling and tabletting. The animal test results showed that the beverage had obvious anti-fatigue effect. Wu Tianyi et al. conducted related research on anti-hypoxia functional fermented products. Through the screening of animal anti-hypoxia tests, it was found that natto and Schizophyllum commune fermented products from microorganisms had significant anti-hypoxia function, which provided a new design idea for the development of anti-hypoxia functional emergency food in the future.
Research status of emergency food storage, transportation and processing technology
In 2003, China began to pay attention to the research on emergency food storage and transportation, and compared with foreign countries, the research started late. In the "storage and transportation" system, food is generally classified and food quality standards are formulated to ensure food quality, facilitate transportation and improve rescue efficiency.The key to the efficient operation of the storage and transportation system lies in making full use of the electronic information platform.Ensure the coordination and mutual supervision of all links, strengthen the contact between emergency food storage and transportation and electronic information enterprises, so as to improve the rapid response ability of emergency food storage and transportation.
At present, there are many researches on food supply chain at home and abroad, covering the supply chain research of various specific food categories, such as fruits, vegetables, grain, etc. However, the research on emergency food logistics is rarely reported. The problems existing in the existing emergency food storage and transportation system in China are mainly summarized as the following four points:
(1) The layout of emergency material reserve centers around the country is unreasonable;
(2) Due to the asymmetric information flow and the large number of relief materials transfer stations in emergencies, the supply imbalance is prone to occur;
(3) Lack of procurement and operation standards for emergency food storage and transportation;
(4) The improvement of food safety evaluation system in the process of emergency food storage and transportation is not perfect, and the efficiency needs to be improved.
Compared with emergency food in developed countries,Domestic emergency foods generally have the problems of short shelf life and low scientific and technological content.The shelf life of self-heated rice and freeze-dried meat products introduced by American Mountain House Company can reach 30 years. The emergency food supply package launched by Wise Company is not only convenient and fast, but also can meet the needs of families, and its shelf life is as high as 25 years. In contrast, the shelf life of emergency food made of domestic Changwo special food by freeze-drying technology is not half as long as it is.
This shows that in the future, the development of emergency food in China should be oriented towards using emerging technologies to maintain the shelf life of food, thus developing a sustainable food value chain and limiting food waste. In order to prolong the shelf life, optimize the taste and promote nutrient absorption,More and more emerging processing technologies have potential application value.
1. Vacuum freeze-drying technology
Vacuum freeze-drying is to freeze the material below the eutectic point and remove the water in the material by sublimation in vacuum environment, so as to achieve the purpose of freeze-drying.It is common in military emergency food, which is used to improve the retention rate of nutrients and maintain the original color and flavor.Vacuum freeze-dried food can be stored at room temperature for a long time without adding preservatives because of its low water activity, and it is convenient to carry and transport.
Yang et al. used hot air drying, hot air vacuum combined drying and vacuum freeze-drying to dry the velvet antler mushroom. The results showed that vacuum freeze-drying could better keep the color and shape of velvet antler mushroom. However, vacuum freeze-drying has the disadvantages of time-consuming, energy-consuming and high cost when used alone, and these problems can be effectively solved by combining with other drying technologies.
Jiang et al. evaluated that freeze-drying combined with microwave vacuum drying was used to dry functional okra snacks. Compared with freeze-dried samples, the combined drying samples had better hardness and brittleness, and the drying time and energy consumption were reduced by about 75.36% and 71.92% respectively. Therefore,Vacuum freezing combined with vacuum microwave drying can be one of the development directions of emergency food drying.
2. Ultra-high pressure technology
Emergency food needs to have a long shelf life to ensure the safety and edibility of food in an emergency. Ultra-high pressure technology uses high pressure force to act on food,Without using high temperature or chemical additives, the shelf life of food can be prolonged by killing microorganisms and inhibiting enzyme activity, while maintaining the original flavor, color and nutrition of food.
Compared with traditional high-temperature treatment, ultra-high pressure technology hardly reacts with covalent bonds of small molecules, and only destroys non-covalent bonds that form the three-dimensional structure of macromolecules, such as hydration, ionic bonds and hydrogen bonds. By inactivating or activating biomolecules such as polysaccharide and protein in food, the product quality can be improved. It is found that soaking and ultra-high pressure pretreatment can increase the content of fast digestible starch and slow digestible starch in rice starch, and reduce the content of resistant starch, thus improving the digestion characteristics of rice.
It should be noted that ultra-high pressure sterilization technology is not suitable for all types of food, and the composition and structure of different foods have different sensitivity to pressure, so it should be tested according to specific products to determine the best treatment scheme.
3. Ultra-fine grinding technology
Ultra-fine pulverization technology pulverizes material particles to micron level by mechanical or hydrodynamic force, thus reducing particle size, changing composition and internal structure, and improving physical and chemical properties of materials. For example, ultrafine grinding canIncrease the solubility of foodSo that it can be easily dissolved with water or other liquids in a short time and quickly prepared into food; In addition, it can alsoEnhance the digestibility of foodSo that it can be absorbed and utilized by the human body in a short time and provide energy quickly, and reduce the burden on the gastrointestinal tract.
Sun et al. treated dehydrated celery stems with superfine grinding technology, and found that there was no significant difference in chemical composition of celery powder with different particle sizes. However, with the decrease of particle size of celery stem powder, its ability of scavenging free radicals was continuously enhanced, which provided a reference for developing fast-dissolving antioxidant functional foods. Zhang et al. treated oat bran by ultra-fine pulverization technology, which improved the surface properties, water holding capacity and swelling capacity of oat bran. The prepared oat bran powder has good physical and chemical properties and oxidation resistance. The data obtained from this study provide theoretical basis for the application of ultra-fine pulverization technology in emergency food deep processing and functional food development.
4. Microcapsule technology
Microcapsule technology is a new packaging technology, which forms a delicate and tough shell around liquid or solid core materials, so that the core materials can be packaged inside the shell. Nutrient fortification is a common technology to improve the nutrition of emergency food. However, many nutrients or functional components such as vitamins, probiotics and antioxidants are prone to degradation, oxidation and volatile loss during production, storage and transportation due to their unstable physical and chemical properties.Using microcapsule technology to embed nutrients and functional components can play a protective role, reduce the influence of external environment such as light, heat and oxygen, and at the same time make them be digested and absorbed when needed.Improve the nutritional value of emergency food.
The results show that adding microencapsulated nutritional fortifier ferrous sulfate to flour can mask the iron smell and avoid the rancidity of oil caused by direct addition. Das et al. successfully prepared anthocyanin extract from purple rice bran with modified glutinous rice starch as wall material by spray drying technology. Microencapsulation showed that the surface of microcapsules was more uniform and smooth than natural starch and modified starch, and the storage stability of microencapsulated anthocyanins was improved. Generally speaking, microcapsule technology provides a new possibility for emergency food, which can improve the taste and prolong the storage time while ensuring nutrition and convenience.
5. Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology can be used to enhance the nutritional value of food and improve its functional components. For example, processing nutrients to less than 100nm by nanotechnology can improve the absorption and utilization rate of nutrients by human body, which can solve the pain point problem that emergency food has low moisture content and is not easily absorbed and utilized by human body.
Nanotechnology can also improve the texture, taste and flavor of food, and be used to remove harmful pollutants in food, such as pesticide residues, heavy metals and harmful chemicals. The special properties of nano-materials enable them to adsorb or catalyze the degradation of these pollutants and improve food safety. However, the application of nanotechnology in food processing is still in its infancy. In the future, when nanotechnology is applied to emergency food, it is necessary to carry out risk assessment and strict supervision on the safety of nanomaterials to ensure the sustainable development of nanotechnology and food safety.
Research status of emergency food packaging technology
Food packaging is a very important processing link that affects the quality of emergency food. As a barrier layer of food, it can protect food from adverse factors such as external environment, microorganisms and pollutants, maintain food freshness, hygiene and safety, and extend its shelf life.Emergency food is usually stored by sealing, modified atmosphere and vacuum packaging. The packaging forms include vacuum aluminum foil packaging, composite nanotechnology packaging and edible film packaging.
In 2016, China developed the world’s first compressed packaging of disaster relief emergency food. By using this pre-foldable compressed packaging food, each logistics vehicle can carry 50% more goods, and the transportation and supply of disaster relief food is more efficient and faster, and the transportation cost is lower. In recent years, in order to prolong the shelf life of food and ensure the quality and safety of food, a variety of functional food packages have appeared in the market, such as antibacterial packaging that inhibits the growth of microorganisms, intelligent packaging that monitors the quality of food, and biodegradable environmental protection packaging.
1. active packaging technology
Active packaging is defined as an intelligent system, which aims to extend the shelf life and improve the quality of food through the interaction between packaging materials and the internal environment of food, so as to meet consumers’ demand for fresh, stable and safe food. Active packaging mainly includes antioxidant packaging and antibacterial packaging. Among them, antioxidant packaging can prevent food from deteriorating by absorbing oxygen or releasing carbon dioxide in the packaging, thus prolonging the shelf life of food. Common oxygen adsorbents include ethylene adsorbent, iron powder, activated carbon, biological enzyme and so on.
Antibacterial packaging mainly inhibits the growth of pathogenic and corrosive microorganisms in food by introducing antibacterial agents, prevents the migration of pollutants, and can also show the leakage of some packaging, thus ensuring food safety. These active packaging technologies provide a broader design idea for future emergency food packaging,So that it is no longer limited to dehydration and drying, and fresh food with better experience can be selected.
2. Nano packaging technology
Nano-technology involves the development of single or multi-dimensional materials less than 100nm. Studies have confirmed that packaging materials with nano-size have large specific surface area and small pores, which can effectively isolate the invasion of external gas, moisture and pollutants, prolong the shelf life of food and reduce the loss of food. In addition, the nano-packaging material has excellent mechanical properties,Can give packaging materials high mechanical strength and durability, and is suitable for use in harsh emergency environments.Therefore, nano-materials are expected to improve the mechanical and barrier properties of emergency food packaging.
On the other hand, the surface of nano-materialsAntibacterial agents such as nano silver can also be added to inhibit microbial growth and reduce food pollution and corruption.Thereby improving the safety of food. Compared with ordinary antibacterial packaging, nano-packaging has stronger anti-corrosion and fresh-keeping function, and is less affected by various extreme weather. In the future, with the continuous development of nanotechnology, nano-packaging materials are expected to provide better protection and quality control for emergency food, and ensure that people can get high-quality food supplies in emergencies.
3. RFID packaging technology
RFID is a technology to automatically identify objects by using radio waves. Identification is accomplished by storing serial numbers or other information on a microchip connected to an antenna. Based on wireless communication, RFID can provide real-time information about temperature, relative humidity, nutrition and supplier information in the process of products passing through the supply chain, improve traceability and ensure food quality and safety.
The application of RFID in the field of military food packaging mainly focuses on the storage and transportation stage. By adding RFID tags to military food packaging, the whole process information tracking of military food in the distribution process can be realized through the one-object-one-code identification function of tag chip. In case of emergency, the whole distribution process needs no unpacking, and all the information of the product can be obtained directly by scanning the reader, including the processing information, storage status, transportation information and eating methods of the product, so as to realize the rapid and accurate replenishment of emergency food and improve the speed and accuracy of distribution.
At present, RFID technology has been widely used in the field of civil food packaging, and these experiences can be used for reference in the field of emergency food packaging.Realize the whole process tracking and management of emergency food supply chain, and improve the efficiency and quality of emergency food distribution.
4. Time-temperature indicator technology
TTI technology aims to monitor the temperature changes in the food supply chain to predict the changes of food heat-sensitive nutrients and indicate the remaining shelf information of products, thus reducing food consumption and ensuring food safety. The basic working principle of TTI technology is based on the changes of machinery, chemistry, electrochemistry, enzymes or microorganisms, which are usually manifested as visible reactions in the form of mechanical deformation, color development or color movement. It can monitor and record some key parameters in the whole food distribution process,By combining the cumulative effect of time and temperature, the remaining shelf life of the product is dynamically displayed.In order to monitor the cumulative effects of time and temperature on specific products, TTI labels are usually attached to food packaging.
Compared with other temperature monitoring equipment, TTI is small in size and cost-effective, and can reflect the time and temperature changes experienced by food by displaying irreversible effects that are easy to observe. At present, the packaging method of emergency food usually follows the date of production, and the date of production and the time limit for eating are printed on the outer packaging. However, in an emergency situation, the quality and safety of food become particularly important due to the instability of storage and transportation environment. By using TTI technology, the quality and safety of emergency food can be better monitored and controlled, and whether the food has been infringed by the external environment can be found in time, which provides great guarantee for enhancing the safety of emergency food.
5. Edible packaging membrane technology
Edible packaging film refers to the packaging film with porous network structure formed by intermolecular interaction with edible materials such as protein, grain matrix, cellulose and other raw materials, supplemented by edible crosslinking agents, plasticizers and other substances.This packaging material can not only effectively protect food quality, but also reduce environmental pollution.
For example, the grain matrix film is usually made of soybeans, which is safe and harmless. At the same time, the packaged products also have the effect of moisture-proof and moisture-proof, which has a good effect on improving the quality of fresh-keeping foods. Compared with traditional packaging materials, edible packaging film has the characteristics of edibility, and it will not produce packaging waste after use, reducing the negative impact on the environment, making edible packaging film a more environmentally friendly choice.
Edible packaging film has a potential application prospect in the field of emergency food, which can provide good food protection and preservation effects, while reducing the generation of packaging waste. However, when edible packaging technology is applied to emergency food in the future,It is necessary to evaluate the stability and performance of this technology under various environmental conditions.
6. Biodegradable packaging technology
With the continuous development of new technologies and new resources, it is another research direction with great potential to use degradable, energy-saving and emission-reducing packaging materials instead of high-energy and refractory packaging materials. At present, researchers have done a lot of research on degradable packaging materials, and their barrier properties need to be improved when they are used in emergency food in the future.Designed as a biodegradable high barrier material.
Microfiberized cellulose materialIt is a biodegradable and widely used high-performance material, which usually comes from green beet pulp, bagasse and soybean skin, and is composed of a large number of cellulose microfibril aggregates. Lavoine et al. reported that microfibrillated cellulose materials and plastic film materials can be combined to form nano-composite packaging materials. Through surface chemical modification, the shortcomings of MFC materials in barrier performance and oxygen barrier performance were solved. However, due to the hydrophilic characteristics of bio-base, the moisture resistance of MFC nanocomposites needs to be further studied and improved.
In the future, intelligent packaging technology can be adopted to optimize the packaging barrier performance and design biodegradable multiple high barrier materials.
Prospect of emergency food development strategy
With the frequent occurrence of natural disasters and the increase of emergency situations, the complexity of rescue site environment and the diversification of rescue people, the development of emergency food in the future needs to introduce advanced scientific and technological innovation technology. For example, the use of Internet of Things technology, intelligent warehousing, scientific packaging technology, etc., to achieve traceability and monitoring of emergency food, improve the quality of emergency food and rescue efficiency. In addition, through the dimensions of raw material screening, formula design, texture reorganization, packaging design, etc., emergency foods in different scenes and target groups are developed to accurately match the nutritional needs of specific groups, increase their acceptance and satisfaction in emergency situations, and improve the quality and effect of emergency response.
1. Future research and development strategy of emergency food
Future emergency food is a kind of food that can quickly and accurately match the nutritional needs of specific people according to different emergency situations, and is convenient for transportation and storage. Based on the research results of emergency food in various countries, the future research and development strategy of emergency food in China can be carried out from three aspects: serialized emergency food, functional emergency food and high-tech application of science and technology.
1) Serialized emergency food.The serial development of emergency food is mainly adjusted and customized according to the dietary needs of different disaster environments and different people, which means developing diversified emergency food products.Including vegetarian, gluten-free, lactose intolerance and other products with special dietary needs to meet the needs of different groups of people.
To carry out the research strategy of emergency food serialization, especially for the needs of special groups such as the elderly, children and pregnant women, the following measures can be taken:
① Reasonable formula design, and develop emergency formula according to the nutritional needs and health status of special groups. For example, for the elderly and pregnant women, attention should be paid to the intake of protein, vitamins, minerals and cellulose; For children, energy requirements and digestibility need to be considered.
② Selection and treatment of ingredients. In order to meet the nutritional needs of the elderly and pregnant women, you can choose ingredients that are easy to chew and rich in protein and fiber; For children, you can choose ingredients that suit their taste and digestive system.
③ Safety and non-allergic guarantee. For pregnant women, children, the elderly and other special groups, it is necessary to ensure that food does not contain substances that may cause allergic reactions, such as peanuts, nuts, alcohol and so on.
④ Product form and packaging design. For the convenience of the elderly and children, it can be designed to be easy to open, chew and digest, and adopt easy-to-operate packaging methods, such as vacuum packaging and canned food.
2) Functional emergency food.The development of functional emergency food will pay attention to the nutritional balance of emergency food and the addition of functional ingredients, so as to meet people’s special needs in emergencies and slow down and eliminate the adverse effects of emergency conditions on human physiology or psychology. exploitationAnti-fatigue, anti-hyperreflexia, anti-anxiety, low temperature tolerance, help sleep, improve constipation and improve immunity.Functional emergency food is the focus of research and development of emergency food at present.
When natural disasters occur, they are often accompanied by water pollution, which will lead to serious gastrointestinal diseases and various infections. Studies have confirmed that bioactive substances can be used to treat some diseases, improve the function of biological systems or resist pathogens. For example, intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids can alleviate intestinal inflammation by changing intestinal flora and enhancing intestinal cell barrier function; Polyphenols such as curcumin can reduce the stress of endoplasmic reticulum, thus reducing the inflammatory response of human intestinal epithelial cells.
Previous studies have shown that intestinal inflammation can be improved not only by drugs, but also by improving dietary intake and increasing the intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids, dietary calcium and vitamin D, thus improving intestinal health.
For example, increasing the dietary fiber content in emergency food can promote intestinal peristalsis and defecation, and prevent constipation and gastrointestinal problems; Adding probiotics or fermented food can improve the balance of intestinal flora, enhance the function of immune system and reduce the risk of gastrointestinal infection; Foods rich in vitamin C and antioxidants, such as citrus fruits and vegetables, help to enhance the immune system function, improve the body’s resistance and reduce the risk of infection.
All in all,By improving the nutritional composition of emergency food, we can alleviate the intestinal problems caused by disasters and help people stay healthy in difficulties.The above measures can help to improve the health effect of emergency food on intestine, but in practical application, the preservation and storage conditions of food need to be considered to ensure the safety and nutritional value of food.
3) The application of scientific and high technology.The introduction of high technology is of great significance to the breakthrough of emergency food in shelf life, nutrition and functionality. In terms of extending the shelf life, methods such as microbial control, vacuum packaging and irradiation sterilization can be adopted. In terms of improving nutrition, nutritional enhancers or functional ingredients can be added to emergency food to enhance its nutritional value.
In terms of improving functionality, high-tech can be used to develop emergency food with specific functions, for example, adding natural antioxidants, humectants, thickeners, etc. to increase the antioxidant capacity, water retention and taste of food. In addition, the use of nanotechnology can improve the texture and taste of food. In the aspect of personalized nutrition enhancement, it can be combined with wearable equipment and sensors. According to the results of physiological testing,Form personalized demand data, send it to the processing base, and generate special nutritious fortified food made of seasoning liquid and powder through additive manufacturing.
To sum up, serialized emergency foods can meet the dietary needs of different groups of people, while functional foods pay attention to nutrition and special needs, while the application of science and technology and high technology is helpful to improve the quality stability, nutrition promotion and functional supplement of emergency foods. These strategies will promote the further development of emergency food in China in the future and ensure that people can get a safe and balanced food supply in disasters.
2. Emergency food processing storage and transportation strategy
Emergency food is an important relief material for survival under emergency conditions, which requires extremely high production environment and product quality in the supply chain.Therefore, it is necessary to establish an automatic, flexible and digital intelligent supply chain system.The following measures can be taken in the production of emergency food in the future.
1) Introduce intelligent equipment.Through intelligent sorting and cascade utilization technology of raw materials, artificial intelligence combined with deep learning of photoelectric equipment, inductive classification combined with manual assistance, the process parameters in the production process are continuously optimized, and a demand-oriented raw material supply system is established, which can realize the automation of raw material pretreatment and processing, reduce the risk of human subjective errors and cross-contamination, and achieve the effect of improving quality and reducing cost.
2) Build a flexible supply chain.Based on the production requirements of serialization, functionalization and science and technology of emergency food in the future, flexible supply chain can help enterprises optimize resource allocation and utilization, thus reducing costs. For example, according to the production demand of emergency products, enterprises promote the digital transformation of production processes to ensure product quality, efficiency and sustainable production capacity; In addition, through flexible adaptation of intelligent filling and packaging technology, we can quickly switch and adjust product specifications and packaging methods, so that enterprises can quickly respond to changes in market demand and improve emergency rescue efficiency.
3) Establish a digital monitoring system.By introducing precise temperature control technology and RFID technology, the key parameters of the process, such as temperature, humidity, flow rate and speed, can be collected in real time by sensors and monitoring equipment, so that the abnormal situation can be adjusted in time to ensure that the products meet the standard requirements. At the same time, considering that the time and place of emergencies are difficult to predict, the joint application of the Internet of Things and smart packaging technology can track the location, transportation conditions and quality of emergency food in real time, and combine with the logistics management system to carry out intelligent distribution and route optimization in real time according to the changes of disaster situation, so as to achieve the best transportation efficiency and save costs.
Different from ordinary food, the demand for emergency food will be affected by various factors.In the future, the development of emergency food should adopt modular design, that is, food should be grouped and packaged according to function or proportion, so that people can choose and combine different types of food according to their needs.And ensure the balanced nutrition of food. Modular design of emergency food has the advantages of flexible selection, balanced nutrition, easy carrying and storage, and improved emergency response flexibility, which can play an important role in future emergency rescue.
3. The prospect of emergency food safety.
There are some harmful substances such as mycotoxins, heavy metals and allergens in the production, processing and transportation of emergency food.It is of great practical significance to establish an emergency food quality management system, analyze the potential hazards in the production process and continuously monitor them.
In recent years, the rapid nondestructive detection technology of food and food raw material hazards has been widely used in the field of food detection and sorting, such as multi-spectral imaging technology, hyperspectral imaging technology, terahertz spectral imaging technology and so on. Because it is simple, rapid and nondestructive, and can obtain the image and spectral information of the detected substance at the same time, it has potential application prospects in food quality and safety detection, mainly including variety identification, adulteration analysis, quality and hazard detection and a series of applications.
Shi et al. realized the rapid nondestructive detection of Fusarium graminearum and vomitoxin in wheat by multi-spectral imaging technology, and explored a new method for monitoring mycotoxin pollution in wheat production, processing and storage. Liu et al. can monitor zearalenone in corn quickly and non-destructively through multi-spectral imaging combined with machine learning technology.The content of mycotoxin is of great significance to the monitoring of mycotoxin pollution during corn storage and transportation.
Du et al. realized the rapid detection of Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B in milk by Raman spectroscopy and stoichiometry, which ensured the safety of milk. Liu et al. quickly determined the concentrations of aflatoxin B1 and benzopyrene in soybean oil by terahertz spectroscopy combined with chemometrics, which provided an effective means for food safety monitoring.
In addition, harmful substances, microbial contamination and chemical residues in food processing seriously affect the quality and safety of food. Therefore, through the rapid detection technology of food hazards in the processing process, it can help manufacturers to respond quickly and reduce or avoid unqualified production operations.
Traditional on-line detection technology often has some shortcomings, such as requiring large equipment and professional operators, and complicated pretreatment.Electrochemical detection methodIt has the advantages of high sensitivity, quick response, real-time monitoring and selectivity. By measuring and analyzing electrochemical signals such as current and voltage in food raw materials, it can be judged whether there are harmful substances.
Gao et al., from the perspective of electrochemical detection, used the electrolyte gate-controlled graphene transistor with two-dimensional graphene as the channel material to realize the rapid identification of the freezing and thawing degree of beef. Mao et al. aim at heavy metal Cr in aquatic productsIn order to solve the pollution problem, two-dimensional monatomic iron material is used as the colorimetric sensor of peroxidase to detect Cr in fish quickly and simply., and achieved good expected results. Zhu et al. developed a portable aptamer sensor, which has the characteristics of simple operation and portability, and can simultaneously detect T-2 toxin and zearalenone in corn and oat flour, thus realizing the on-line detection of mycotoxins during processing.
In the future, multi-functional electrochemical biosensors and nano-devices can be constructed through electrochemical aptamer joint detection technology, so as to realize the detection of complex hazards such as benzopyrene and allergens in the production process and ensure the safety and stability of food quality in the production process. The flow chart of future emergency food research and development strategy is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Future Emergency Food R&D and Development Strategy Process
conclusion
In recent years, emergencies have occurred frequently in China, and the demand for emergency food has been rising continuously. Especially after the COVID-19 epidemic, China residents’ awareness of food nutrition and safety has been continuously enhanced, and food is required to have certain functionality while meeting basic energy. Therefore, one of the first tasks in the post-epidemic period is to accelerate the research on emergency food.
For the development of emergency food in China, there are many problems in the process of modern rescue, such as insufficient nutrition supply of emergency food, imperfect functional food and difficulty in accurate distribution. Based on this actual situation, the design and development of rescue food with complete nutritional functions, convenient eating and convenient storage and transportation, and the realization of industrial production can not only meet the national emergency relief needs, but also fill the food shortage of emergency relief materials.
By analyzing the development gap of emergency food at home and abroad and thinking about the future development trend of food, this paper puts forward three research and development directions of emergency food, and produces a series of safe, fresh, nutritious and stable emergency food through intelligent supply chain and accurate and efficient detection technology, so as to make it have core competitiveness and greater development space in the market, and gradually open and improve the emergency food market in China.
