Pet food goes out to sea, paving the way for people (picture)

The picture shows customs officers inspecting pet food production equipment on site, photographed by Cui Haiying

Although it has entered spring, the mornings in the island city of Qingdao are still slightly damp and cold. At the entrance of Qingdao Xinnong Kangyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd., General Manager Zhang Zhaoxin anxiously looked into the distance. When a customs enforcement vehicle turned into sight, a smile finally appeared on his face.

Director Wang, you have arrived! "Zhang Zhaoxin welcomed Wang Shufeng, the head of the Qualification Management Department of Huangdao Customs Enterprise Management Office under Qingdao Customs, and his colleagues who had driven over." Quickly give us guidance, and the rest of the orders will depend on you

Originally, foreign customers suddenly requested registration for the insect products exported by the company, which resulted in the obstruction of customs clearance for products originally used as animal feed protein at multiple ports in Europe. Zhang Zhaoxin is determined to build a new workshop, obtain registration qualifications again, and open up the EU market. So, Wang Shufeng and his colleagues became the "personal consultants" of the company, and they need to frequently provide on-site guidance in the near future.

According to your suggestions, the workshop layout has taken into account both dry insect production and deep processing of protein oil products, saving space and making the process smoother. During the trial operation, the production capacity has more than doubled compared to expectations. "As Zhang Zhaoxin walked towards the workshop, he introduced the preliminary construction situation. Now it's the critical stage before production, you still need to provide guidance

Entering the dressing, hand washing, and disinfection area outside the production workshop, Wang Shufeng stopped and carefully observed the disinfection process. Washing hands and changing clothes is the first and most critical step in preventing pollution from entering the workshop, "he pointed to the layout on site and said to the accompanying technical personnel of the company." We suggest posting the changing procedures, accompanied by illustrations, and adding larger changing mirrors to facilitate employees' self-examination

Entering the production workshop, the machines rumble, and bags of dried yellow mealworms enter the entrance of the microwave drying and sterilization tunnel through hoppers. After multiple processes such as strong magnetic separation, microwave drying, and high-temperature sterilization, they are finally made into delicious food for various birds.

Wang Shufeng carefully examined each production process and pointed out the problems one by one: "Between areas with different cleanliness requirements, access control management must be strict, labeling must be clear, and transfer windows must be used in a standardized manner. Equipment installation should pay attention to leaving enough space around for cleaning and maintenance, without leaving any hygiene blind spots... The EU customers you are negotiating with are very concerned about workshop hygiene control and traceability. The traceability records of each production process of the product must be properly labeled to achieve full process traceability

In Wang Shufeng's mind, there is a ledger for the production situation and export market requirements of each enterprise in the jurisdiction. By 2025, Huangdao Customs has recommended 78 registered pet food export enterprises to foreign authorities.

In order to accelerate the entry of more pet food production enterprises into the international market, Wang Shufeng and his colleagues have to make several trips to various pet food processing enterprises in their jurisdiction every week. From domestic and international regulatory training, technical guidance, workshop drawing design to production processing and finished product inspection, Wang Shufeng has gone through the entire process countless times.

Details determine quality, especially in the face of the international market, and these basic management are really not to be taken lightly, "Zhang Zhaoxin sighed.

One week later, Qingdao Xinnong Kangyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd. successfully passed the customs' remote assessment registration and obtained a pass to the international market. An EU customer who was unable to reach an agreement due to issues with the old workshop conditions also placed a new order after watching the video of the new workshop.

My colleagues often joke that every time there is a recommended registration, Wang Shufeng has to "stay" in the pet food factory. Wang Shufeng responded, "We can help companies modify drawings and point out problems more, so that they can spend less money unnecessarily in the later stage, meet foreign standard requirements faster, explore new markets, and grow in the factory. It's worth it!" (Cui Haiying/text)