During the autumn harvest season, the fragrance of Chinese lotus roots wafts overseas

In the golden September, the autumn harvest fills the warehouse, and domestic lotus roots usher in the golden season of centralized harvesting, processing, and export. Lotus root is rich in dietary fiber, low in calories, and has antioxidant properties, which is in line with the current global trend of healthy eating and light eating for health preservation. It has gained widespread popularity in overseas markets such as Asia, Europe, and America. As a characteristic advantageous industry on the south bank of Hangzhou Bay, the lotus root processing and export industry in Cixi City, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province has a solid foundation and distinctive characteristics. At present, Cixi Customs, under the jurisdiction of Ningbo Customs, accurately meets the export needs of enterprises, provides advanced services and precise empowerment, and takes a series of convenient measures to escort local lotus root products to sail overseas.
Entering the lotus root processing workshop of Cixi Sanxing Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., the production line is running at full speed, workers are working in an orderly manner, and batches of frozen lotus root products are being processed and ready for shipment. We adopt the Single Rapid Freezing (IQF) freshness locking technology, which can preserve the crispy and tender taste of lotus roots as well as core nutrients such as dietary fiber, vitamin C, and potassium to the maximum extent in a low temperature environment of minus 30 degrees Celsius. The dual advantages of locking freshness and ensuring quality, as well as convenient consumption, precisely match the convenient cooking needs of overseas families and restaurants. ”Introduction by Mao Lingling, the person in charge of the enterprise.
With stable quality and excellent reputation, the company's export scale has steadily increased, and its flagship products such as frozen steamed lotus root are exported to many countries and regions such as Japan, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Australia. From January to August this year, the export volume of lotus root products from the company reached 453.4 tons, a year-on-year increase of 18%, and the recognition in overseas markets continued to improve.
High quality export products stem from the meticulous quality control throughout the entire process. Mao Lingling introduced, "We strictly abide by the main responsibility of food safety and have established a standardized control system. From raw material harvesting and acceptance, cutting and peeling, grading and cutting, to citric acid color protection, seasoning and sterilization, and quick freezing and packaging, every process has set strict quality inspection standards, laying a solid foundation for product quality from the production source
Cixi Yongjin Frozen Food Co., Ltd., which specializes in the deep processing of lotus root products, is a provincial-level leading agricultural enterprise. The enterprise has been rooted in the processing of frozen agricultural products for more than 30 years, relying on its own experimental farms and stable raw material supply chain to create a series of frozen lotus root products. Among them, the Chinese style frozen semi-finished lotus clip is made by selecting fresh lotus roots and cutting them into slices, filling them with prepared fresh meat filling, and processing them through pre frying with coating slurry and low-temperature rapid freezing to lock freshness. Eating without thawing, it can be served immediately after frying or heating in an air fryer. The finished product has a golden and crispy outer skin, a crispy and tender lotus root body, a plump and juicy meat filling, a fusion of meat and vegetables, and an authentic flavor, with high market recognition. The company's R&D team adheres to innovation and iteration, promoting 3 to 5 new product R&D projects every year, and gradually launching a variety of characteristic lotus root products such as seafood lotus clips and lotus root chunks. Since the beginning of this year, the export volume of lotus root products from the company has reached 97.8 tons
Lotus root products have high preservation requirements, short shelf life, and extremely high requirements for customs clearance efficiency and logistics timeliness. Cixi Customs has implemented precise measures, specifically opening a green channel for the export of fresh and perishable agricultural products, prioritizing acceptance and rapid release. At the same time, a remote video inspection mode will be piloted for the export frozen vegetable certification business, significantly reducing the inspection and certification time, simplifying the customs clearance process, reducing logistics and time costs for enterprises, and enabling high-quality lotus root products to efficiently enter overseas markets.
Nowadays, the export industry of lotus root in Ningbo is accelerating its transformation and upgrading, shifting from primary processing to high added value. The products are constantly iterating and upgrading, the categories are continuously enriched, and the market competitiveness is steadily improving. Data shows that from January to August this year, Ningbo Customs has supervised the export of 45700 tons of frozen vegetables with a total value of 480 million yuan, an increase of 11.6% and 7.1% respectively year-on-year. The export industry of characteristic agricultural products has steadily improved in quality and continued to develop positively.