The staple food of potato has changed from fresh to popular.

Editor's note: with the acceleration of the industrialization of potato staple food, more and more potato staple food products have entered the consumption link from laboratory research and development, and are favored by consumers for their unique flavor and balanced nutrition. Potato staple food products not only enrich the table, change people's eating habits, but also promote the integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in potato producing areas. With the continuous strengthening of policy support and technical support, the popularity of potato staple food is expected.

There is a new pattern of hot and dry noodles for Wuhan snacks, which is famous all over the country. Different from the traditional hot-dry noodles made of flour, the hot-dry noodles made from potatoes have a unique flavor and have successfully entered the snack market in Wuhan. Among them, Dahankou brand potato hot and dry noodles also won the gold medal of last year's China Agricultural Fair.

In all parts of the country, in addition to hot and dry noodles, all kinds of potato staple food products, such as potato Youtiao, potato instant rice, potato gong roast, potato rice noodles, and so on, have come out of the laboratory and began to be brought to the table of ordinary people one after another. Potato staple food products from the initial minority taste to popular, changing and affecting the eating habits of more people.

"only what you can't think of, there's almost nothing you can't eat. With the breakthrough of processing technology and the development of industry, potato staple food products have more opportunities to go to the public table. It can be said that the potato industry has now become a sunrise industry. " Dai Xiaofeng, director of the Agricultural products processing Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said at the 2016 annual meeting of the National Potato staple Food processing Industry Alliance and Potato staple Food Development Technology Cooperation Group held in Keshan County, Heilongjiang Province.

The staple food products are integrated into the potatoes with regional characteristics to realize the "72 change"

Freshly baked potato and beef buns, potato moon cakes of various shapes, crisp and delicious potato oil cakes. On August 25, the exhibition hall of Kunfeng Potato seed Potato Professional Cooperative in Keshan County was crowded, and potato staple food processing enterprises from all over the country were displaying the newly developed potato staple food products.

"these potato staple food products are almost integrated with local characteristics, with different shapes and rich tastes. The small potato has realized the'72 change'. " Pan Libing, deputy director of the Agricultural products processing Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that in the past, potato staple products were mainly noodles and steamed buns, but now there are more than 240 potato products in six series, and the variety is still being enriched. Moreover, the proportion of whole potato powder has gradually increased, and some optimized foods have made the proportion of potatoes in staple food products reach 50%.

In 2015, China put forward the development strategy of potato staple food products. Since then, the key technologies of potato processing have made continuous breakthroughs. Household potato noodle machine, large potato extrusion noodle production line and potato steamed bread production line are becoming more and more mature, but also attract more and more industrial and commercial capital to invest in potato staple food processing industry.

According to statistics, from the perspective of technological research and development, the R & D team of the Ministry of Agriculture alone has formed more than 120 core patents for potato staple food products, with more than 20 patents transferred last year; in terms of the number of enterprises, more than 200 enterprises have participated in the development of potato staple food industry in nine pilot provinces (autonomous regions and cities), including Beijing and Hebei, and seven pilot cities, including Shanghai, Harbin and Hangzhou. At the same time, in Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and other key potato production and marketing areas, potato processing gradually transformed to staple food processing.

Processing technology has broken through, enterprises have sprung up, production lines have been built, and the development of potato staple food products has entered a fast lane. Take Beijing Haileda Food Company as an example, 46 kinds of potato products such as potato steamed bread, twistbread and cake have been sold in more than 700 supermarkets in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. The potato staple food products produced by Gansu Jupeng Halal Food Co., Ltd. even went abroad.

Due to the restriction of processing technology, there are not many potato staple food products before, and the price is not low after entering the supermarket, which is relatively minority. Now, the emergence of a variety of potato staple food products with unique local characteristics makes it easier to enter people's daily life. " Zhang Hong, a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural products processing of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said with emotion.

Sun Litao is the general manager of Heilongjiang Xingjia Potato Industry Co., Ltd., and the chairman of Litao Potato Professional Cooperative. During the potato harvest season, the high-power potato harvester is working nervously at his potato seed base in Lianxin Village, Shuanghe Town, Keshan County.

"this year's harvest is about the same as last year, and the price should be better than last year. I have great confidence in the potato industry. " Sun Litao said that the cooperative mainly cultivated, planted and sold potato seeds, and more than 10,000 mu of black land planted seven edible potato varieties and two processing varieties. In his view, the proposal of staple food development strategy has opened up the potato market. Sun Litao told reporters that next year he plans to gradually increase the research and development and planting of potato varieties for special processing.

Keshan County, where Sun Litao is located, is the "hometown of potatoes" in China. At present, the harvesting of potatoes in the county has basically been mechanized. Deputy county magistrate Zhao Jun told reporters that nowadays, more and more cooperatives are making a fuss on the development of potato staple food, forming a full-chain development pattern from seed potato breeding, commercial potato planting, to sales and processing, and promoting the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries. "in the future, we will introduce all kinds of potato food processing enterprises in a planned way, deeply develop potato table food and nutritious food, and create the largest potato industrial processing park in Northeast China." Zhao Jun is full of expectations for the future of the potato industry.

"with high added value, potatoes can better achieve value-added gain in processing, and it will be easier to connect the primary, secondary and tertiary industries." Pan Libing believes that among agricultural products, the potato staple food processing industry is the easiest to achieve the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary production. At present, the potato covers a wide area in China, and 70% of the poor areas grow potatoes. In the northwest, southwest and alpine poor areas of China, it is still an important food and cash crop in China. "once the whole industry chain is opened, the added value goes up, and the whole industry develops, potatoes can help more farmers shake off poverty and become rich."

Ningxia, which is located in the west, is one of the main potato producing areas in China. According to Kang Bo, director of the planting Administration Bureau of Ningxia Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Department, after three development stages: starch industry, fast sale of fresh food, and development of seed potato industry, Ningxia potato industry has ushered in the stage of staple food development, and the traditional industry has been full of vitality. now the scale of Ningxia potato industry is constantly expanding, and the efficiency is also further improved. There are not only French fries and potato cakes supplied by McDonald's, but also regional products such as Youtiao, razor, and twist, which are in line with the characteristics of Ningxia Hui diet, and these products have entered the community and campus and are well received by the public.

At present, more than 70 countries, including China, have listed potatoes as staple foods. Experts predict that in the next few years, the market demand for potatoes will show a significant increase, and the impact on the price will be very significant. Just take seed potato as an example, the annual demand in China is 12 million tons, while the demand for potato starch and its derivatives is more than 800000 tons, and is increasing at an annual rate of 10%. It can be said that the market space of potato industry is huge, and the popularity of potato staple food is expected.

"the potato staple food industry can help us solve the double pressure of resources and environment, and is the starting point and breakthrough to promote the transformation of agriculture and the integration and development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries. The next 30 years will be the strategic opportunity period, golden period and key period for the development of China's agricultural product processing industry, and the potato staple food processing industry will be an important field. In the future, we should give full play to the role of the industrial alliance and strive to achieve the goal of "staple food consumption accounts for 30% of the total potato consumption by 2020". " Dai Xiaofeng said.

Despite the broad prospects, Pan Libing also pointed out that there are still some problems in the current development of potato staple food: "for example, compared with the eating habits that ordinary people do not easily change, we do not have enough special varieties for processing. In addition, technical equipment and product categories need to be further strengthened." He said frankly that processing is indeed a weak link and a key link, and it is necessary to take the lead through the processing industry to promote the integration of production, processing and sales, and promote the development of the integration of the three industries.

In terms of policy support, taking the subsidy policy for the initial processing of agricultural products as an example, a large part of the subsidy is used for the initial processing and storage of potato every year, which also creates conditions for the staple diet of potato.

Kangbo hopes that relevant departments will continue to increase policy support and guidance in the development of potato staple food products in the future. "at present, the content of the policy on potato processing is still relatively simple, the standard of subsidy is still on the low side, and the enthusiasm of enterprises for product development needs to be further improved."