He planned to partner with a listed company to test his products in the initial stages. However, the partnership did not go as smoothly as he expected.

"The company's technology consultants and experts gave a warranty to my products, but the general manager refused to test the new products in their aquaculture farms," Liu said. "You can see how difficult the processes were."

The company's management finally agreed to test Liu's products on a very small number of sea cucumbers in its aquaculture farm. Liu agreed to provide the products for free.

The results surprised the company's decision-makers. The output of sea cucumbers fed with the immune protein was 30 percent higher than the ordinary sea cucumbers.

The company has now become one of Bestcare's key partners, Liu said.

So far, the company has three world-class scientists and 84 doctorate students to support its R&D work. Liu said Bestcare has been able to register national-level patents in China every year.

The company will be building a new R&D facility at its production base soon. "I have to invest continuously in innovation to maintain a leading role in the market," Liu said.

He plans to add more production lines and expand production capacity in order to lower the company's manufacturing costs in the upcoming years.