Orange peel with high price, citrus meat is abandoned, how does Xinhui citrus meat jump out of the "ditch"

Editor's note: the comprehensive utilization of agricultural products and processing by-products is an important topic in the field of agricultural products processing. At present, the comprehensive utilization level of agricultural products and processing by-products in China is still very low, the extensive utilization of agricultural products by-products, the low-value use of processing by-products, and the random discharge of processing wastes, resulting in waste of resources, loss of benefits, reduction of income, environmental pollution, and seriously affected the sustainable development of agriculture. Vigorously improving the comprehensive utilization level of agricultural products and processing by-products is of great significance to increase the effective supply of agricultural products, guide the transformation of agricultural structure, increase farmers' employment income and increase agricultural value-added efficiency.

Walking through the streets of Xinhui District, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, there will be a fragrance of medicinal materials drilled into the nostrils. The dotted tangerine peel shop is the source of this smell. Like many of its peers, Xinbaotang tangerine peel Co., Ltd. is located in the flagship store on Qiaoguang North Road, where clerks are busy packing and mailing tangerine peel gift boxes stacked into hills.

However, what bothers Chen Bozhong, chairman of Xin Baotang, is not the development of e-commerce channels, but how to write like a god on another blueprint that has just been unfolded. In April this year, Xinbaotang Company and Wuyi University, a local university in Jiangmen, reached an agreement on industry-university-research cooperation to jointly tackle the comprehensive utilization technology and in-depth development strategy of Xinhui citrus meat. "entering the new century, we are the first and so far the only one who is willing to eat the 'chicken ribs' of citrus meat processing." Chen Baizhong said.

Every year, 250000 tons of citrus meat is discarded, which not only pollutes the environment but also becomes a burden on enterprises.

For the general citrus, people eat meat and abandon the skin, while for Xinhui mandarin, "leaving the skin and abandoning the meat" has become the norm of processing. The so-called tangerine peel is a medicinal material made from Xinhui citrus, which is dug up to remove the flesh and core of the fruit through complex processes such as sun exposure and storage.

Although Xinhui tangerine peel and Xinhui mandarin obtained geographical indications of agricultural products at the same time in 2006, their moving speed is not the same at all on the track of industrialization and branding, and their respective prices are now very different. In 2013, the 100g of orange peel Huang, which had been stored for 73 years, sold for 125000 yuan, but Xinhui mandarin was only three or four yuan per jin, and the peeled citrus meat became a waste that no one was interested in.

Although it has not yet reached the peak season of picking and processing Xinhui oranges at the end of the year, in some villages around Xinhui City, reporters still found random piles of citrus meat on the side of the road and in the ditches. The sour smell of citrus meat caused flies to buzz around in the hot sun. Many villagers have long been familiar with this. "the citrus meat is not very delicious, and after being peeled, it is easy to deteriorate, and it can't be sold on the market." A citrus farmer said helplessly.

"according to the current planting area of 70, 000 mu of Xinhui mandarin, with an annual output of 2 tons of citrus meat per mu, about 140000 tons of citrus meat becomes garbage every year." Chen Baizhong said that this is only based on the planting scale in the Xinhui area. "if you consider that the 'tangerine peel' oranges grown in other counties and cities of Zhaoqing, Shaoguan, Huizhou and Jiangmen will also be concentrated in Xinhui for processing and transfer, then about 250000 tons of citrus meat will be discarded every year."

For many tangerine peel enterprises in Xinhui, when it comes to the peak of production, they not only have to find ways to find a home for the large amount of citrus meat produced by processing, but also pay a fee ranging from 30 yuan to 50 yuan per truck for the sanitation department to pull away the citrus meat. "for some small and medium-sized tangerine peel enterprises, the expenditure on citrus meat collection and transportation is also a big burden every year." Chen Baizhong said.

The road of early fruit juice processing is impassable, and industrial transformation must rely on comprehensive utilization.

In Xinhui, tangerine peel industry has precipitated for more than 600 years. In modern times, there is no lack of people who set their sights on citrus meat and try to turn waste into treasure and dig into another "bucket of gold" in the tangerine peel industry, but it often comes to nothing.

The most recent effort was in the 1980s. The birth of a fruit juice factory once made people think that Xinhui citrus meat could get rid of its fate from branches to ditches. The almost zero cost of raw materials also makes many people have high hopes for this factory. However, due to the relatively simple technological process, the sour nature of Xinhui citrus meat did not disappear with the roar of the press. Due to the "deficiency" in taste and marketing, the citrus juice factory closed down in just a few years. After the brief uproar of citrus meat processing, Xinhui tangerine peel industry returned to the traditional way again.

In Chen Bozhong's view, the impulse of citrus meat processing juice came more directly from the blowout of Xinhui mandarin acreage brought about by the prosperity of tangerine peel industry at that time. "at that time, Xinhui alone had 200000 mu of citrus orchards, about three times as much as it is now." Chen Baizhong said that a large amount of citrus meat surplus naturally led to the topic of deep processing. "however, if you just squeeze the citrus meat into fruit juice and break through the predicament in this way, it is obviously 'disorderly medical treatment'."

In Chen Bozhong, there are two hats, the provincial "non-heritage" inheritor of Xinhui tangerine peel production skills and the fourth generation head of the century-old tangerine peel brand, which is not only a halo, but also a heavy burden. It is with this heavy sense of responsibility that he finally decided to break through Xinhui citrus meat processing and utilization, which restricts the transformation and upgrading of tangerine peel industry.

Integrate into health industrial clusters and seek breakthroughs in processing organic fertilizers and enzyme products

For the deep processing of Xinhui citrus meat, it is not the low cost of raw materials that attracts Chen Bozhong. His "prescription" is "biotechnology, health industry".

In 2013, Xinbaotang Company invested 450000 yuan to commission the School of Pharmacy of Sun Yat-sen University to conduct a study on tangerine peel and analyze the pharmacological components of citrus flesh and kernel. Studies have shown that, compared with other edible oranges, Xinhui citrus meat has no shortage of nutrients and health ingredients except for slightly poor taste, and some indicators such as amino acids and vitamins are slightly better, so it is very suitable for the development of functional drinks.

At the key industry project promotion meeting held in Jiangmen City in April this year, Xinbaotang Company and Wuyi University jointly created the "Xinhui tangerine peel processing waste comprehensive utilization technology research and development and application demonstration" project. Become one of the important members of the "Great Health Industrial Cluster". According to the cooperation agreement, the two sides strive to make a breakthrough in the conversion of citrus meat into agricultural-grade organic fertilizers and food-grade enzyme products.

In the eyes of Huang Ruilou, deputy mayor of Xinhui District, the project will solve the problems of waste citrus meat and environmental pollution that have long plagued the local area. According to Chen Bozhong's calculation, the expected output value of this project to the tangerine peel industry will be as high as 7 billion yuan.

At the same time, with the help of the use of citrus meat, Xintang Company, which has touched the ceiling in the traditional tangerine peel industry, has "fermented". In January 2016, with the establishment of Guangdong Xinbaotang Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Chen Baizhong is turning from a drugmaker into a trend rider in the modern biological industry.

"the Xinhui citrus meat comprehensive utilization project has a total investment of 380 million yuan and the plant covers an area of 83000 square meters. Enzyme will be put into production this year." In Chen Baizhong's vision, the two products will be used as independent sub-brands of Xinbaotang, embedded in the modern health industrial chain of Xinhui tangerine peel supported by the model of "high-tech + health culture + tourism", "so as to realize belt meat in industrial branding and meat to raise skin in industrial diversification."

In Chen Baizhong's eyes, R & D is still the biggest bottleneck. In addition to the production of enzymes and fertilizers, the mechanical separation technology of pulp and core also needs to be improved. In the medicine market, the price of citrus seed per ton has reached 5000-8000 yuan, and once large-scale mass production and processing are realized, the fruit core can make a magnificent turn from waste to pieces of traditional Chinese medicine and functional food.