Chinese families cool off on pre-made meals for Lunar New Year after scandal

As families across China gather for the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday, pre-made dishes at their reunion dinners – the centrepiece of Spring Festival celebrations – have again come under scrutiny. Chinese households, many of which tend to reduce their budget, have increasingly been cautious, following a high-profile row over food transparency and quality involving a star influencer with millions of fans online and a national restaurant chain. “I work all year round overtime and do eat pre-made food quite often, but it always feels cheap and not refined,” said Ma Shuai, a sales manager from Henan, a province in central China. However, “there isn’t a single pre-made dish I’d want to put on the reunion dinner table,” he added. Similar to Christmas dinners in Western countries, the Chinese dinner on Lunar New Year’s Eve is often regarded as the most important meal of the year - and one where they would prefer to allocate more money. Such comments are common in China as it has raised broader questions about trust, disclosure and regulation in China’s fast-growing prepared food industry. Su Yu, a Guangzhou-based translator, echoed this view, stating she had recently tried some new pre-made dishes. “The value for money and presentation just don’t meet the expectations for a reunion dinner, let alone for entertaining guests. If a restaurant uses pre-made dishes, it immediately becomes cheap and low-end in my mind,” Su said. A recent online survey conducted by Yicai.com, a Shanghai-based financial news outlet, found that only 39 per cent of respondents were willing to accept pre-made dishes at their reunion dinners, while the rest opposed the idea or adopted a wait-and-see attitude. The results mark a notable shift towards more conservative public views compared with similar surveys in 2024, when more than half of households reported using pre-made dishes for the Lunar New Year meals. This change in consumer sentiment is closely linked to a wave of public controversy that erupted late last year and quickly spread beyond any single brand. The dispute broke out on September 10, when influencer Luo Yonghao, a former teacher known for his blunt commentary, accused the Xibei restaurant chain on social media of serving “disgusting” meals that featured pre-made food sold at premium prices. Luo called for mandatory disclosure of cooking methods on restaurant menus, which went viral, drawing millions of netizens into a heated online debate over transparency and food quality in China’s dining sector. Xibei founder Jia Guolong soon fired back by describing the chain’s offerings as containing “semi-processed” ingredients, and opened the kitchens of nearly 400 outlets. However, as scrutiny intensified, videos showing the use of packaged and frozen ingredients spread rapidly online, reinforcing public scepticism and further validating Luo’s complaints. On January 15, Jia said in a social media post that the chain would close 102 stores nationwide within the first quarter – about 30 per cent of its total outlets – across 30 cities, affecting about 4,000 jobs. According to the Yicai survey, 60.48 per cent of respondents said the Xibei controversy had influenced their decisions when choosing food for the reunion dinner. The report added, citing industry insiders, that sales of New Year’s Eve dinner pre-made meal kits, which had surged in previous years and nearly doubled annually, slowed sharply in 2026 to a modest growth of around 10 per cent, amid lingering controversy and rising consumer expectations. In a research note released in January, analysts at iiMedia Research said the nationwide debate had moved beyond any single brand, underscoring an industry-wide shift in which efficiency gains from central kitchens alone were no longer enough for the pre-made meal sector. Transparency, rebuilding trust and ensuring a positive consumer experience were becoming decisive competitive factors, the analysts added. According to China Fortune Securities, China’s per capita pre-made meal consumption rose from 5.4kg in 2013 to 9.1kg in 2022, with an expected market value of 475.7 billion yuan (US$66.8 billion) last year. Late last month, the Sina Weibo social media platform halted a renewed round of open confrontation between Luo and Jia by restricting their personal accounts. Meanwhile, the State Council’s Food Safety Office, in collaboration with the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation, has jointly drafted national standards for pre-made meals, with plans to solicit public feedback later this year. On February 6, the regulatory push took a more concrete form when the National Health Commission released a draft national standard on pre-made meals for public consultation. The draft bans the use of preservatives, sets a maximum shelf life of 12 months and requires products to be labelled as requiring reheating or further cooking before consumption, while excluding staple foods, ready-to-eat items, pre-cut vegetables and central kitchen prepared dishes from the pre-made meal category. 一财调查2026 2024年调查

Chinese families cool off on pre-made meals for Lunar New Year after scandal

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Food fight between star influencer and restaurant chain becomes a hot potato at reunion dinner tables as hosts pick quality over convenience

Food fight between star influencer and restaurant chain becomes a hot potato at reunion dinner tables as hosts pick quality over convenience