Strengthen the cultural self-confidence of traditional Chinese food

The moment you open the cork, a unique taste of kimchi comes to
your nose.
"That's right, the taste of this lactic acid strain fermentation broth is what we want!" At the Poly Light China Food Fermentation Industry Research Institute, a subsidiary of Poly Group, the team led by Yao Su, vice president of China Food Fermentation Industry Research Institute and director of China Industrial Microbial Strain Preservation Management Center, had just completed the shaker experiment of strain fermentation, and the team members showed a satisfied smile
.

"Our recent research project is to isolate and cultivate strains from samples of traditional kimchi from Hubei farmers, and through selection research, the strains can play a role in strengthening fermentation in the industrial production of kimchi, so as to effectively enhance the flavor of
kimchi.
" Yao Su told reporters
.

From the common white wine and black tea in life to the pickles and curd on the table, China has a unique type of fermented food in the world, and the bacteria isolated from it are the core raw materials
for the industrial production and innovative development of traditional fermented food.
"China's traditional fermented food is nutritious and delicious, but its recognition in the international market has been improved
.
One of the reasons is that the international requirements for fermented food cultures are 'clear source and use history, scientific classification status, clear function and application fields, and safety and risk-free', and there has been very little
research in this field in China in the past.
Yao Su said
.

Since 2013, Yao Su led the team to start the research work
of "List of Microbial Cultures for Traditional Chinese Fermented Foods".
Yao Su found that compared with the international advanced level, there is still a big gap
in the classification and identification technology, functional use research, safety evaluation and standardized management level of microbial strains for food in China.

In the following years, Yao Su's team traveled to more than 10 provinces and cities across the country, collected hundreds of samples of fermented foods, and screened nearly 1,000 strains with industrial value
.
Through investigation and research, the team found out the history of safe use of strains in fermented foods eaten by ancestors for generations, and released the List of Microbial Strains for Traditional Fermented Food in China for the first time in China, providing a scientific basis
for the innovation and development of the fermented food industry.
"Our products are very good, but we can't boast about ourselves, we have to have a scientific basis to be recognized by consumers and even the international market
.
" These scientific research achievements are truly escorting enterprises to open up the market
.
The positive feedback from fermented food enterprises made Yao Su realize that the development of strain resources is the core lifeblood of the future high-quality development of the industry, and the safety demonstration of fermented strains and the systematic construction of the strains list are the key to
industry supervision.

Based on the systematic collection and evaluation of eight categories of microbial strains for traditional fermented foods in China, Yao Su's team established China's first resource bank
of microbial strains for traditional fermented foods.
In order to let more Chinese food go international, Yao Su's team turned its attention to the field of international standardization of strains, took the lead in undertaking the revision of two international standards for food microbial analysis methods, participated in more than 10 related project research, and organized global food microbial scientists to carry out research
.
Hard work pays off
.
In 2018, Yao was elected Chairman of the International Dairy Federation's Microbiological Methods Committee (IDF), the first time an Asian has held the position
.

Through long-term research accumulation and scientific data support, Yao Su's team finally promoted the inclusion of Chinese cultures in the third and fourth editions of the "List of Food Microbial Strains with Safety Demonstration in IDF Fermented Foods"
.
"We will continue to carry out strain collection research and recommend more Chinese strains to the list, so that China's traditional fermented foods can go abroad and be internationally recognized from a scientific point of view, strengthening the cultural confidence
of Chinese traditional foods.
" In the past 10 years, Yao Su's team has successfully built the world's leading microbial species identification and typing technology system, safety and functional evaluation technology model through hard research, providing strong scientific and technological support
for the development of China's traditional fermented food industry.

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that we should adhere to the world's scientific and technological frontier, the main economic battlefield, the major needs of the country, and the people's life and health, and accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement
。 With the iteration of microbial analysis technology, omics technology innovation and the wide application of big data technology, Yao Su said that in the future, as a key part of the scientific and technological innovation sector of Poly Group, China Food Fermentation Industry Research Institute will further improve the level of development and utilization of strains in China, build a safety assessment database of strains used in traditional fermented foods in China, improve the big data of strains genetics, continuously enrich and promote the international development of strains, and open up greater development space
for China's food industry.

(Reporter Wen Yuan)