Is Imported Food Running into Trouble? It's All Due to Customs Declaration!

Mr. Zhang recently imported a batch of high - end cheese from France, but it was detained at the customs for two weeks; Ms. Li's Japanese snacks were returned in full container due to unqualified labels... Behind these real - life cases, they all point to the same problem: Customs declaration for imported food is far more complicated than imagined. With the explosive growth of cross - border e - commerce, the scale of China's imported food exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan in 2023, but about 37% of enterprises suffered losses due to customs declaration problems. What key values can professional customs declaration companies actually provide?

Unlike ordinary commodities, food imports involve sanitary quarantine, ingredient standards, and Chinese labels with triple strict supervision:

• EU chocolate may be rejected due to excessive cocoa butter substitutes
• Southeast Asian fruits are often destroyed due to quarantine pests
• The radiation test report of Japanese food must be accurate to the county

The case database of Zhongshitong shows that 82% of customs declaration mistakes stem from enterprises' self - translation of ingredient lists, such as mistranslating "potassium sorbate" into non - standard expressions like "preservative".

High - quality customs declaration companies will establish a complete service chain:

• Pre - review stage: Avoid 30% of tax rate misjudgments through pre - classification of HS codes
• Document preparation: Prepare 12 types of documents such as certificates of origin in accordance with Order No. 248 of the General Administration of Customs
• On - site declaration: Use the "advance declaration" mechanism to shorten the customs clearance time by 50%
• Subsequent management: Establish a commodity traceability file to deal with subsequent inspections

After professional customs declaration for a certain New Zealand milk powder brand, the customs clearance time for a single batch of goods was compressed from 11 days to 72 hours.

Customs declaration companies in the market vary in quality. It is recommended to focus on the following aspects:

• AEO certification qualification: Customs - certified high - level enterprises can enjoy priority customs clearance treatment
• Industry database: Have an updated database with over 3000 food cases
• Emergency response: Be able to provide on - site inspection support within 2 hours

It is worth noting that leading enterprises such as Zhongshitong have begun to use AI systems to automatically match the latest quarantine policies, with an error rate 92% lower than manual operation.

With the frequent introduction of new regulations, professional customs declaration is evolving from a single service to a full - chain solution:

• Integrate with cross - border e - commerce ERP systems to achieve automatic customs clearance
• Collaborate with laboratories to provide pre - detection services
• Develop compliant SaaS tools to manage supplier qualifications

As an importer exclaimed, "When a customs declaration company can warn that the antibiotic standards for Australian honey will be adjusted next year, this is no longer just a simple document delivery job."

Have you ever encountered customs clearance problems with imported food? Welcome to share your experiences or leave the customs declaration questions you care about the most. For enterprises planning to expand their import business, it is recommended to immediately request the latest 2024 Imported Food Compliance White Paper to avoid potential risks in advance.