In a public interest debate, there should be no place for emotion-laden words, especially those designed to disparage each other. Only factual statements matter.

"In the past few days, pre-made dishes have once again found themselves in the eye of the storm," People's Daily said in a commentary published on September 16. "An objective analysis is necessary to decide whether such dishes are healthy, how the pre-cooked food industry will develop, and how consumers' health can be protected."

The commentary referred to a recent event in which Luo Yonghao, an Internet celebrity who, after eating at Xibei, a well-known restaurant chain, blamed it for having served him and his friends mostly pre-made dishes.

In a statement uploaded on the X-like Weibo on September 10, Luo said: "Almost every dish is pre-made, and yet they're so expensive. How disgusting."

The thing is, he did not immediately provide factual support for this claim. On September 11, he said on Weibo he would offer a reward of 100,000 yuan (US$14,075) for collecting the evidence of Xibei using pre-made dishes.

Jia Guolong, founder of Xibei, retorted on September 11 that there was no such thing as pre-made dishes at Xibei. Jia vowed to sue Luo for defamation. Later, in a business group chat, he called Luo "an Internet troll" and "an Internet gangster" who had prompted him to wake up (to reality), thus unwittingly nudging Xibei to do better.

Things took a drastic turn on September 15, when Xibei published a letter of apology to its customers for failing to meet their expectations. The restaurant chain also promised to improve its service, including replacing certain semi-prepared food materials with raw ones to be cooked on the spot.

On the same day, Luo announced that he would cancel his 100,000-yuan reward for collecting the evidence, and that he would not sue Jia for labeling him as "an Internet gangster."

"Trading insults and using stigmatization to drive a wedge between different groups of people will by no means help solve the real problem," noted the People's Daily in its commentary.

Netizens have basically polarized into two competing camps, with one supporting Xibei and another backing Luo. Certainly there are those in the middle and there's no shortage of rational voices, but quite a few netizens are so emotionally charged that they have even called for a nationwide boycott of Xibei and the pre-made food industry per se.

The People's Daily pointed out: "The industrialization of prepared foods is a global trend... It's not an either-or choice between prepared and freshly cooked foods."

Indeed, as the People's Daily further explained, freshly cooked dishes satisfy Chinese customers' traditional pursuit for the fresh flavor of food, while prepared food meets the demand of many modern-day busy lives.

Consensus building

"Every controversial event lends itself to rational discussion and consensus building, and we should not waste such an opportunity (to do better)," the People's Daily concluded.

In essence, the debate between Luo and Jia arose from their different interpretations of pre-made dishes.

To Luo and many other netizens, anything that is not freshly made on the spot is called a pre-made dish. This is a simple belief among many ordinary people.

But Jia and many other food entrepreneurs stick to China's official definition of pre-made dishes, which says food partially or completely prepared in their central kitchens and later distributed to their own restaurants cannot be classified as pre-made dishes.

Given their different understanding of pre-made dishes, Luo and Jia should have engaged in deeper conversations rather than acted on the spur of the moment. Good news is that the dust settled within a week, which is conducive to more rational discussions in the days to come.

On September 15, Xinhua news agency published a commentary, which I believe provides a framework for rational discussions about pre-made dishes. In the commentary, Xinhua listed four issues to watch:

First, there's a gap between the current official definition of pre-made dishes and the public's understanding. To the general public, anything that is packaged and pre-processed should be called a pre-made dish, but according to the official definition, food distributed from a restaurant chain's central kitchens to its various outlets is not classified as pre-made dishes.

Second, many consumers are not against restaurants using pre-made dishes but hope such dishes are clearly marked. In reality, a few restaurants have begun to voluntarily mark their pre-made dishes, but there are still many outlets which are reluctant to disclose their pre-made dishes to customers.

Third, fundamentally speaking, food security is not so much related to whether food is prepared or freshly cooked as to whether food itself is of high quality and whether its production process complies with hygiene and safety standards. Even cooking freshly in a hot pot may contain risks. For instance deepfrying may increase carcinogens in food.

Fourth, there's no need to regard pre-made dishes as "monsters." Such dishes already have a market occupation rate of more than 60 percent in the United States and Japan. The key is to strengthen regulation and supervision while guiding the public to cultivate a scientific understanding of pre-made dishes.

Heeding the call of consumers

In the final analysis, I would say, a consensus between consumers and restaurants would only come from deep and rational conversations, in which everyone learns to think, talk and act in a calm and reasoned way.

The recent debate between Luo and Jia, however emotionally charged in the beginning, has ended in a way that both are able to put public interest in the first place.

And despite its apology and promise to do better, Xibei will always have room for improvement. For example, it can try to open more outlets where cooking over fire is allowed. Out of safety concerns, now many shopping malls bar restaurants from using fire to cook food. In Chinese tradition, cooking over fire gives consumers a special feeling about the freshness of food.

Heed even the slightest voice of consumers, and you will only do better.