Vacuum Packaging and Modified Atmosphere Packaging: Practical Aspects of Choice for Food Production

On October 31, 2026, the Hunan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Livestock and Poultry Slaughter Industry in Hunan Province" (Xiang Nong Fa [2026] No. 48), proposing to "strive to build a national highland for meat processing and meat product export." The benefits for equipment enterprises are not in the slogans, but are scattered across five areas—layout, standards, intelligentization, cold chain, and deep processing—forming a demand chain of "build new plants—upgrade old plants—equip downstream." Targets First Define the Five-Year Scope. The plan's appendix lists five targets (2025→2030): annual designed pig slaughter capacity 53.85 million head→60 million head, slaughter volume above designated scale 30.07 million head→36 million head, centralized slaughter rate 49%→60%, enterprises with more than 300,000 head 21→25, meat exports 20,600 tons→25,000 tons. A net increase of 6.15 million head in designed capacity and an 11-percentage-point rise in the centralized slaughter rate mean that new line installations, exit of small sites, and upgrading of existing capacity will occur simultaneously.

This year's Start of Winter has an extra layer of significance: the country's first local regulation on the ham industry, the Jinhua Ham Industry Development and Promotion Regulation, officially came into force on the same day. One clause in the regulation is particularly noteworthy for the food machinery industry: ham made with traditional techniques shall be salted with raw materials put into production between Start of Winter and Start of Spring of the following year; for production with raw materials put in at other times, modern techniques shall be adopted, with temperature and humidity controlled throughout the process. In other words, if a Jinhua ham is to be produced regardless of seasons, the premise is that the workshop must have "temperature and humidity controlled,

Raw material thawing in aquatic product processing workshops is a core control point in the pre-treatment link, which directly affects product texture, nutrient retention and food safety, and must strictly follow the principles of low-temperature time control, hygienic isolation and quality priority. Combined with the current aquatic product processing specifications and production operation requirements, the core precautions are as follows: 01 Pre-thawing Preparation and Raw Material Control 1. Thaw on demand and strictly prohibit repeated freezing and thawing Accurately calculate the thawing amount according to the daily production plan, and prioritize the "small-batch, multi-batch" thawing mode; frozen raw materials shall not be refrozen after leaving the warehouse. Repeated freezing and thawing will damage the muscle cell structure, lead to massive loss of juice and soft and rotten taste, and significantly increase the risk of microbial reproduction.