Chapter 462 - 212: Special Excellent Level

Chapter 462: Chapter 212: Special Excellent Level

After returning from the Lufeng Breeding Base, Jiang Miao made a stop to inspect the situation at the Salt Town Farm in Magong Town.

As the place where Hailufeng Company got its start, this 700-mu farm had undergone an upgrade six months prior. The main focus was on completely hardening the bottoms and walls of the 500 mu of open-air fish ponds, while the 200 mu of indoor facilities were left in their original state.

However, following another breakthrough in eel breeding technology, the eel nursery area had been shrunk to only 10 mu of indoor facilities.

The other open-air fish ponds and indoor facilities that were freed up were now used for farming other aquatic products.

Open-Air Farming Section 1.

Lin Yonggong, the chief of this farming section, was reservedly explaining its operations to him. Lin Yonggong was a local from Salt Town village who had previously farmed oysters his whole life. He had been hired as the section chief last June.

"Boss, these 100 mu are all triploid oysters. Since the spat we seeded in the first batch were quite large, they’ve already reached market-ready size."

Gazing into the oyster pond, Jiang Miao saw heaps of oysters growing on a vast spread of stone pillars. Using his Appraisal Panel, he could see the detailed meat quality of these oysters.

Lin Yonggong had already gone down to the water’s edge and pried a dozen or so oysters loose.

Ke Yong helped pry open the shells with a small knife, revealing the milky-white meat inside. The oyster wasn’t particularly large, about the width of three fingers held together.

Jiang Miao had no hesitation. He picked up a freshly shucked oyster and slurped it down in one go.

It was smooth and tender on the palate. A faint briny taste came first, immediately followed by a wave of sweetness and umami. After a few chews, it was incredibly crisp and refreshing. The meat broke down effortlessly, lacking the rubbery toughness of lesser oysters.

Ke Yong and the others who enjoyed oysters each had one as well.

"This flavor?"

"It’s much better than the domestic oysters I’ve had before, almost on par with some of the top-tier imported ones."

"It really is good."

"So sweet and savory."

Having made their living by the sea for decades, and with some of their families having farmed oysters in the past, Lin Yonggong and his men knew exactly what ordinary local oysters tasted like.

Local oyster farmers aimed for large, plump oysters, but they all used earthen ponds. This method had one unavoidable problem: the oysters would ingest silt from the bottom of the ponds.

Furthermore, farmers would either pump in seawater directly or rely on the incoming tide to change the water. In such cases, the quality of the surrounding seawater was a critical factor.

The seawater quality near Cheung Sha Wan was clearly not high-grade. It was an estuary, after all, so pollutants carried down by the river would inevitably contaminate the seawater to some extent. As a result, the ordinary farmed oysters from this area were prone to having heavy metal issues.

This was also a major reason why the Shanmei government had previously cracked down on the gold and silverware, plating, and jewelry processing industries in Meilong Town and Ketang Town. These industries were located along the rivers upstream from Cheung Sha Wan and were dumping massive amounts of pollutants into the bay.

Even after the crackdown, the water quality at the mouth of Cheung Sha Wan was still merely average. This was an inherent problem for many estuaries; the more developed the industry along the river, the poorer the water quality where it met the sea.

To guarantee the safety of the water used at the Salt Town Farm, the company had invested in and built several specialized seawater purification systems designed to remove heavy metals and pollutants from the natural seawater.

And for an oyster farm producing oysters intended for raw consumption, the water quality was under constant monitoring. The feed and algae were also meticulously selected to ensure the oysters would not be contaminated. No contamination—be it from heavy metals or microorganisms—was permissible.

This even included microplastic pollution, which was strictly controlled for during the seawater filtration and purification process, as well as in the selection of feed and algae.

For this level of oyster, Hailufeng Company would use a special label: "Special Excellent Level."

Currently, Hailufeng Company’s products had two labels: "Special Grade" and "Special Excellent Level."

The "Special Excellent Level" designation signified an outstanding quality even among the Special Grade products—the best of the best.

To achieve the Special Excellent Level, products had to fall within strictly defined limits for heavy metal residue, pesticide residue, microbial contamination, and microplastic residue. Additionally, their flavor, texture, and appearance had to be optimal for their product type.

After swallowing the oyster, Jiang Miao set down the shell. "Yonggong, can this batch of oysters be harvested now?"

"Just about. It depends on the arrangements from the specialty stores," Lin Yonggong nodded.

Jiang Miao knew that selling premium aquatic products required two indispensable things: aquariums and professional live transport vehicles.

As for aquariums, the larger specialty stores and the six warehouse supermarkets that had recently opened were all already equipped with professional aquariums and the necessary supporting facilities.

As for live transport trucks, they currently only had eight. With the expansion of their farming operations, eight professional trucks were clearly far from enough. The logistics division had already instructed the purchasing department to expedite procurement.

Jiang Miao washed his hands. "This one-mu oyster pond should have a yield of about 16,000 kilograms per mu. That’s a decent output."

Having farmed oysters before, Lin Yonggong was well aware of this. "We’re using high-standard management techniques. We have to control the farming density, or it will affect the quality of the oysters."

Without these high standards, a single mu could yield as much as 25,000 to 30,000 kilograms.

Even with a per-mu yield in the tens of thousands of kilograms, once you remove the shells, you’re left with only about 3,200 kilograms of oyster meat. The shell-to-meat ratio is 4:1.