How do Chinese traditional fermented foods face the future？ Expert advice： innovative fermentation new format leads the new expression of the industry

Traditional fermented food in China has a unique flavor, which is not only a material product to meet the basic food needs of human beings, but also an important carrier of Chinese culture. On July 28th, sponsored by Guizhou Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology and China Light Industry Group, and hosted by China Food Fermentation Industry Research Institute and Guizhou Special Food Industry Promotion Association, the "Three Products of Consumer Goods Industry 2023 National Tour (Guizhou Station) and the Third China Traditional Fermented Food Industry Development Conference" was held in Guiyang.

Experts and scholars from wine, condiments, prepared vegetables, fermented drinks, tea and other industries and scientific research fields conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges on the frontier development trends and innovative technologies of the industry, promoting the transformation and upgrading of China’s traditional fermented food industry and promoting the high-quality development of the industry.

Guizhou fermented food industry has great development potential and sufficient power.

Fermented food is a kind of food processed by brewing technology by using microbial fermentation in ancient China. There are many varieties, mainly wine, vinegar and soy sauce. At the same time, fermented foods such as pickled pickles, fermented bean curd and cheese are deeply loved by Chinese people. Guizhou people, located in the southwest of China, applied fermentation technology to the food field, brewed wine and vinegar, and made sour soup, sauces and other condiments.

Deng Xiaoding, the second inspector of the Consumer Products Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that Guizhou’s agricultural products are naturally rooted in green genes and contain the spirit of mountains and rivers. Guizhou people are diligent in farming and brewing, and there are many delicious foods. We should actively practice the new development concept and ecological civilization concept to promote the high-quality development of the industry; Constantly strengthen community thinking and promote the coordinated development of industrial chain; Deepen the "three products" leading strategy, enhance the effective supply capacity of Guizhou food industry, and promote the transformation and upgrading, innovation and high-quality development of Guizhou food industry.

Zhang Wanshun, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of China Poly Group, believes that Guizhou’s food industry plays an important role in the industrial field of Guizhou Province, and it is an important industrial hub of "connecting one company, two belts and three belts", and the food industry with ecological characteristics is listed as one of the top 100 billion industries. In order to develop continuously in the future, we should give full play to the support and leading role of science and technology.

"There is a strange thing in Guizhou, and Chili is a dish." These folk proverbs vividly illustrate the position of traditional fermented food in the hearts of Guizhou people. The Development Plan of Ecological Characteristic Food Industry in Guizhou Province in the 14th Five-Year Plan points out that it is necessary to strengthen the research on modernization, industrialization, standardization and standardization of traditional fermentation technology, analyze the influence of raw material composition, processing conditions and blending technology on product taste and quality, form a systematic processing technology, integrate and use modern complete sets of equipment, improve the intelligent level of enterprises and promote the transformation and upgrading of enterprises.

Guizhou fermented food, with thousands of years of traditional fermented food technology culture, maintains its own vitality. From the development of Guizhou fermented food industry, the enterprise fleet led by Maotai has been formed, the bean product fermentation industry led by Laoganma, the black tea industry represented by Zunyi Red, Pu ‘anhong and Shiqianhong, as well as sauce, vinegar, pickles and baked goods, all have a certain scale.

Experts pointed out that Guizhou has certain comparative advantages in high-quality ecological products and resource endowments. In the future, it is necessary to dig deep into the development potential of ecological industries, accelerate the construction of a good industrial ecological system, continuously strengthen the supply of industrial innovation, build a modern industrial system with Guizhou characteristics and an important position in the national industrial structure, and promote more high-quality ecological products to go out of the mountains, travel all over the country and go global.

Traditional fermented food industry needs new expression.

At this conference, experts shared new technologies, new ideas and new ideas on the current situation and future development trend of traditional fermented food industry, and made suggestions for promoting the healthy and orderly development of traditional fermented food industry in China. Sun Baoguo, an academician of China Academy of Engineering and a professor at Beijing Technology and Business University, systematically analyzed the ideas and applications of traditional liquor industrialization upgrading and industrialization application around the key issues such as strategic direction, scientific and technological frontier, hot spots and difficulties. He pointed out that the development trend of liquor industry is production modernization and market internationalization, and the parallel of traditional brewing and modern production has become the new normal of liquor industry development. The modernization of liquor should be closely integrated with flavor chemistry, bioengineering, artificial intelligence, material science and machinery manufacturing according to their respective technological characteristics and requirements.

Tu Huabin, deputy general manager of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd. believes that the quality expression of China liquor has five dimensions, namely, uniqueness of producing area, scientific construction method, diversity of base liquor, drinking comfort, sensory characteristics and typical characteristics. The liquor industry needs to build a technical system of engineering expression through the refinement of materials (brewing raw materials), the beauty of equipment (brewing tools) and the beauty of art (brewing techniques). "High-temperature koji-making, high-temperature accumulation and high-temperature distillation" are the core of Maotai-flavor liquor brewing technology.

Lu Fuping, president of Tianjin University of Science and Technology, pointed out that China’s traditional fermented food industry faces some problems, such as low automation, limited process control and unclear quality expression. Production depends on experience, lacking digital objective standards and evaluation technology; Simple operation is mechanized, lacking intelligent equipment with digitalization as the core; Traditional sensory quality expression lacks a new digital evaluation and characterization system of grounding gas. In the future, traditional fermented foods should be flavor-and health-oriented, driven by digitalization, and build an efficient intelligent production 4.0 platform.

Zhang Zhiqiang, vice chairman of china health care association, said that the transformation of nutrition and health is a challenge for the food industry and a great opportunity for its development. The main task of the nutritional health transformation and upgrading of the food industry is "three reductions (salt reduction, sugar reduction and oil reduction)". The upcoming national standard "General Rules for Nutrition Labeling in prepackaged foods" requires the content of saturated fat and sugar to be marked. The growing awareness of nutrition and health of consumers has become a powerful market driving force for the upgrading of the food industry.

The meeting also held a strategic cooperation signing between China Light Industry Group and Guizhou Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology; China Food Fermentation Industry Research Institute signed a strategic cooperation contract with Guizhou Nanshanpo Group; Qiandongnan Bureau of Industry and Information Technology and China Haicheng signed a cooperation agreement on sour soup industry planning. The two sides will focus on the new industrialization strategy around the industrial advantages of Guizhou Province, establish a long-term cooperation mechanism for collaborative innovation of production, learning, research and use, serve the development of the top ten industrial industries in Guizhou, and promote the high-quality development of industries such as Maotai-flavor liquor, ecological food and traditional fermented food.