Haitong Foods has all the ways to go overseas

"Food safety is of paramount importance. As a food company, I believe that we cannot be overly cautious when it comes to safety issues, because it concerns the life and health of the public." At this year's Ningbo's first Export Quality Award ceremony, Haitong Group General Manager Yang Guoqing's enthusiastic speech infected everyone present.

Since its establishment in 1985, Haitong Group has been committed to improving product quality and safety as a means and building a quality system as a guarantee. With the help and guidance of the inspection and quarantine departments, it has continuously strengthened its safety risk analysis capabilities and improved its quality management level, and has achieved good results and reputation in the international market.

Base - Guarantee of product quality

At the beginning of summer, in the vast farmlands in the northern part of Yuyao, Ningbo, the green broad beans and edamame grow particularly attractive, and the fragrance of tofu pudding floats over the vast land, refreshing the heart.

"This is our own farm." Hui Di, director of the quality department of Haitong Planting Base, pointed to a large piece of farmland not far away and introduced it to the author. "I heard that you are coming, so I thought I would invite you to have a look at our export vegetable base. This is the most distinctive part of our company's management."

According to Huidi, the Haitong base currently has four models: self-operated farms, franchised farms, order farms and cooperative farms. All farms adopt the standardized production form of "unified management, unified production, unified training, unified use of drugs, and unified procurement."

"Before planting vegetables every year, our company will formulate a detailed plan to unify the planning of the sowing time of various vegetables, the amount of fertilizers, the prevention and control of pests and diseases, and other projects. At the same time, the company has also hired more than 20 plant protection workers to track the entire process of sowing and seedling raising, crop growth, and pesticide residue testing to ensure that the planting base becomes Haitong's 'first workshop'." Huidi said confidently.

"What is this, SOYC?" the author asked curiously, pointing to a symbol sign with English letters on it at the edge of the field.

"This is the plot number. Our company has been applying and promoting the agricultural product traceability system since 2002, and this plot number is part of the system," Huidi said. "Since 2010, with the help of the inspection and quarantine department, our company has begun to transform the system into an information-based system. By simply using the label code on the package, we can immediately find all kinds of information on the computer, including the planting location, variety, sowing period, harvest period, and the type and time of application of pesticides and fertilizers. This plot number is the base's own 'identity card'."

It is understood that the Export Agricultural Products Traceability Supervision and Management System (EATS) independently developed by Ningbo Yuyao Inspection and Quarantine Bureau was put into operation in the export food enterprises in the jurisdiction in 2010. Through the EATS system, not only can the inspection personnel grasp the process information of each batch of export agricultural products in real time, but the enterprises can also use the system to manage their own production resources in an informationized manner.

In order to enable enterprises to master and use the EATS system in a timely manner and to track information such as base production status, raw material quality and safety, and supply sources in real time as quickly as possible, the Yuyao Inspection and Quarantine Bureau decided to start with leading food companies in the area, such as Haitong Group, and carry out "one-on-one" consultation-style assistance activities.

Software import, enterprise-side installation, module classification, data entry, traceability code establishment... During the two-month system debugging process, the inspection personnel provided Haitong with more than ten on-site guidances and solved more than 100 problems for the company. In early 2011, with the help of Yuyao Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, the EATS system was successfully operated in Haitong Group, realizing the digital monitoring of the company's raw material supply, production process and inspection results.

In addition, Yuyao Inspection and Quarantine Bureau also took advantage of the inspection and quarantine department's advantages in testing technology and base registration management to help Haitong Group establish a complete set of food safety traceability management systems from farmland to table, including base management system and pesticide residue control system. In 2010, Haitong Group was rated as a Class A management enterprise for risk assessment of exported vegetables in Ningbo by Ningbo Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. Since 2011, the group's product inspection and quarantine pass rate has remained at 100%.

System - the key to quality assurance

Put on special clothes and hats, wash hands for two minutes, soak for 15 seconds, brush off body hair, enter the air shower room... Before entering the food processing workshop, you have to go through 13 procedures in total, which takes about 15 minutes. When I came to the factory of Haitong Group from the vegetable base, I was given a warning before entering the production workshop.

"Isn't it troublesome?" Huidi said to the author with a smile, "This is an important part of the company's food management system. Otherwise, the quality and safety of the products cannot be guaranteed."

As Huidi said, a good management system is the key to ensuring food safety and quality. In order to make the company's products recognized by customers, Haitong Group attaches great importance to the construction of the company's quality management and assurance system. It has passed ISO9001:2000, ISO14001, HACCP and other management system certifications. Its export products such as quick-frozen vegetables, prepared foods, canned foods, etc. have also successfully passed the third-party factory audits of the American Institute of Baking (AIB), the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Jewish Food Regulations (KOSHER).

"Don't underestimate this management system. This is what our big customers look at before signing a contract with us." At this time, Huidi picked up a lemon slice that had just been produced.

"You may have tasted this. The lemonade in KFC uses our ingredients. KFC's hibiscus fresh vegetable soup, and Pizza Hut's bayberry juice and broccoli are all supplied by us." Looking at the author's surprised expression, Huidi smiled and said, "In the process, the inspection and quarantine department gave us a lot of help, allowing our products to enter the food supply chain of major customers."

It turned out that in April 2011, Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut, expressed its purchasing intention to Haitong Group. However, it had its own set of upstream supplier management evaluation criteria, requiring a comprehensive evaluation of nine aspects including the factory's raw material supply, packaging material selection, audit record management, and factory laboratory capabilities. The evaluation standards were very strict.

In order to help Haitong Group pass the review of Yum! Brands, Yuyao Inspection and Quarantine Bureau took the approach of full involvement, on-site guidance, and follow-up rectification to help Haitong Group meet Yum! Brands' various review requirements. Starting from details such as the surrounding environment of the planting site, pesticide detection in the soil of the production site, and plot distribution map drawing, it helped to establish the management procedures for the development of vegetable planting bases; starting from key points such as hygiene control, HACCP system monitoring, and QAP plan establishment, it helped to improve the food safety and quality management system; starting from risk point monitoring, detection method selection, and test result evaluation, it helped to improve the company's laboratory testing capabilities...

In June 2011, relying on its complete quality management system and laboratory testing capabilities, Haitong Group successfully passed Yum! Brands' strict audit with excellent results and became the first qualified upstream supplier of KFC and Pizza Hut in Yuyao.

It is reported that Haitong Group has become the largest food exporter in Ningbo, with its products sold in more than 20 countries and regions including Europe, America, Australia, Japan, Africa, etc. In 2012, Haitong Foods also won the first Ningbo Export Quality Award, becoming one of only two food companies to win the award.

Technology - a weapon for market competition

On March 16, 2011, Haitong Group held a press conference at Three on the Bund, a fashionable landmark in Shanghai, to launch the Kaizhi Fruit series of products made with 100% puree, including 22 specifications of three varieties: bayberry juice, blueberry juice and Brazilian cherry juice.

"Our Kaizhi series of juices are irreplaceable by similar domestic products, and in terms of nutritional value, they are also unmatched by other products. We hope to make the precious fruit series we are launching this time the 'Moutai' of juices." Haitong Group Chairman Chen Longhai said confidently at the press conference.

In fact, creating the "Moutai" of juice is just a microcosm of Haitong Group's path to differentiated and high-end market development. In recent years, Haitong Group has always adhered to the new product development idea of ​​organically combining production, learning and research, keeping up with international advanced technology and market information, and constantly improving product competitiveness.

In order to develop new products, Haitong Group has continuously strengthened research projects. The product categories have developed from the single quick-frozen vegetables and dehydrated vegetables in the early days of the factory to the current 11 categories and more than 200 specifications such as fruit juice, fruit ice cream, canned food, and health food. At the same time, Haitong Group has also developed and improved key technologies such as canning, sterilization, fresh-keeping enzyme treatment, and finished product storage, providing strong technical support for new products. In the past 2011, three scientific research results such as "a processing method for hot air drying and conditioning radish leaves" were awarded national invention patents. Nine projects such as "research and industrialization of bayberry juice beverage processing technology" won national and provincial and ministerial science and technology progress awards.

In order to improve the technical strength of the testing laboratory, the group invested a lot of money to build its own laboratory. In 2008, the laboratory passed the on-site review organized by the National Accreditation Service and obtained CNAS accreditation. At present, it can complete more than 200 testing projects in eight categories, including routine microbiological indicators, physical and chemical indicators, pesticide residues, heavy metal content analysis, and nutritional analysis. In addition, the laboratory has established good cooperative relations with Zhejiang University, China Agricultural University, Washington State University, University of Virginia and other domestic and foreign universities, and has carried out extensive technical exchanges and cooperation with Japan's Saga Research Institute, Nichirei Testing Center, and Kagome Central Research Institute on topics such as nutrition and health food research. While ensuring the accuracy of test data, it has greatly enhanced the company's reputation and influence.

"To become a world-class and domestically leading food processing company" is the vision of Haitong people, and also the best interpretation of "committed to human health food" by Haitong people. In order to realize the dream of "Haitong for a Century", generations of Haitong people have been working tirelessly.

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