I can't be more confident, but I'm pretty sure the use of 'poche' indiates this is not about retail things that customers can re-heat, but rather, about the vacuum-packed meals that most service stations use instead of cooking from fresh (my friend is catering manager in one of these!) It's a good way of both saving on skilled staff (just need to reheat) and also avoiding waste, since you can re-heat only the number required, and if it looks like you may run out, put a few more in to re-heat just in case.

More context would help a lot: to start with, to whom is this document addresses? It doesn't sound to me as if it is actually aimed at the punters, but rather more a description of their commercial activities for professional consumption only?

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Note added at 12 minutes (2017-07-21 15:25:09 GMT)
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Oops! The bit that was so self-evident to me that I failed to mention it (!) was that the kind of sturdy bags meals are packed in are indeed referred to in the caterin industry as 'poches', rather than some kind of simple 'sachet' such as you might find on a retail product.

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Note added at 14 minutes (2017-07-21 15:27:08 GMT)
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Right, Asker! that's exactly the sort of thing I was expecting: professionals talking to professionals. With that extra information, I'd have given a higher confidence level.

This is consistent with the mention of frozen and defrosted (pâtisserie, for example).

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Note added at 16 minutes (2017-07-21 15:29:13 GMT)
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They probably wouldn't be ready meals in the sense of a complete meal served in a little tray as you suggest, and not necessarily individual either; but X no. of portions of a dish, which will be served with other items also possible vacuum-packed.

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Note added at 20 minutes (2017-07-21 15:33:21 GMT)
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A quick Google search reveals the horrifying prevalence of this sort of food, EVEN in French restaurants! Basically, in any fairly small restaurant that has a lengthy menu, you can be pretty sure that at least some of the dishes have been bought in ready-prepared; especially when you see the same dishes occurring over and over again in different restaurants.

Here is one article about the practice:

Les plats industriels envahissent les cuisines des restaurants - Capital.fr

http://www.capital.fr/economie-politique/les-plats-industrie...

4 mai 2011 - Les restaurateurs sont de plus en plus nombreux à servir des plats ... Pour un Jean-Luc Madec qui parle, combien de restaurateurs nient l'évidence ? ... Guy, président de la Confédération des professionnels indépendants de ...

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Note added at 2 jours18 heures (2017-07-24 09:28:43 GMT) Post-grading
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In the light of the extra context, I have edited the glossary entry: these are unlikely to be complete meals (as might be the case in retail), but rather component parts of meals, i.e. 'dishes'.