# Research and Development Status of Prepared Foods in China: A Review
## 2 The Formation of Prepared Foods  
As early as 1880, [PERSON] invented the canning process, which led to the world's first prepared foods of \"canning\". His main objective was to offer consumers, especially seamen, preserved foodstuffs still having the appearance and properties of fresh fruits and vegetables [8]. Commercial canning appeared in England in 1810, heralding the formal commercialization of prepared foods. Later, [PERSON] invented rapid freezing technology to expand the distribution range of prepared foods, which gradually developed into more food categories, such as frozen vegetables, soft canned foods, refrigerated foods, and fast foods [9]. Along with the development of technology and economy in the early part of last century, prepared foods developed rapidly in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other developed countries [10]. The industry grew and matured in the 1990s [11]. A more specific history of the development of prepared foods is shown in Figure 2.  
Moreover, the development of prepared foods in China was relatively late, because such foods have only started to develop in recent years. The development history of China's prepared foods mainly includes three stages: Phase 1--the starting phase. Around 2000, prepared foods enterprises that mainly produced semi-finished food products began to appear, and the industrialization of prepared foods began. However, the overall development of the prepared foods industry grew slowly due to the backwardness of Chinese cold chain logistics, quick-frozen technology, and food processing technology at the early stage of industry development. Phase 2--stagnation phase. As of 2013, due to the slow development of Chinese food processing technology, such as thermal processing, sterilization, storage, packaging, cold chain technology, etc., the development of the prepared foods industry had stagnated, and there had been no significant breakthrough. Phase 3--explosive growth phase. Since 2014, the emergence of the take-out sector has facilitated the development of the prepared foods industry in the catering industry [12]. Prepared foods have made great progress in the past few years. In recent years, the accelerating pace of social life has resulted in working people not having enough time to prepare meals, and the tedious and time-consuming steps of  
Figure 2: The development history of modern prepared foods. buying, washing, chopping, and cooking have proved difficult for the young. Naturally, most of them also are not good cooks. Therefore, they seek help from the outside to comfort their hunger. At this point, prepared foods, which are perfectly suited to their requirements, emerged in China. At the same time, people's lifestyles have changed dramatically in the post-pandemic era, and the rapid growth of the take-out industry has led to a surge in demand for convenience foods [13], accelerating the market formation of prepared foods [14]. Moreover, the rising income level of residents has prompted a reconfiguration of the household consumption scene, accelerating the industrialization of the prepared foods industry. Urban and rural residents' consumption of food has changed from survival consumption to healthy, enjoyable, and high-quality consumption [15], and from the solution of subsistence to a proper, healthy, and safe diet, which provides a huge consumer market for the prepared foods industry and lays the economic foundation for the healthy development of prepared foods [16]. In addition, breakthroughs in key technologies have also applied for the technical foundation for the rapid development of prepared foods. The breakthrough of novel targeted bacteria reduction technology, flavour development and maintenance technology, fast precooling technology, map, and other technical equipment has provided a guarantee for the stable quality of prepared dishes during industrial processing, storage, sales, and consumption [17]. The strengthening of the distribution capacity of cold chain logistics [18] has driven the development of the industry.