SOY SAUCE

Ong Kim Lian & Tan Soon Ann Singapore Polytechnic, School of Chemical and Life Sciences

Introduction
Over 3,000 years ago in ancient China, a salty reddish brown fermented paste was discovered. Before long, its liquid extract, now known as soy sauce, became a popular condiment, enhancing the flavour of Chinese cuisine of that era. Its popularity as a flavour enhancer was not solely confined to China alone. The people of Japan also loved the sauce and concurrently the Japanese soy sauce was born.

Today, despite the distinctive taste difference between the two types of sauces, Japanese and Chinese soy sauces are well accepted as flavour enhancers of the East. Surprisingly, the international community with its mix of cultural and ethnic diversity is also beginning to welcome the unique and exotic taste of the Oriental product. Needless to say, more and more Westerners are decking the sauce alongside their own in kitchens everywhere.

What started of as a traditional fermented food, soy sauce has now become a common household item and a product that is winning international acclaim. How is it then that an Oriental traditional food is able to make such a favourable impression in the global sauce market today? In October 2001, SIFST Annual visited one Japanese and one Chinese soy sauce manufacturer to update members on the production of the sauces. This article reviews the manufacturing, management and marketing practices of Japanese and Chinese soy sauce makers Kikkoman Corporation and Tai Hua Food Industries Pte Ltd respectively.

Interview At Kikkoman (S) Pte Ltd
The exquisite and exotic flavour of the Japanese soy sauce stems largely from their unique manufacturing process.

Fig. 1 (Right) shows the manufacturing process of Kikkoman soy sauce. It is interesting to note that Kikkoman has its own proprietary starter culture Aspergillus sojae for use in the koji culturing stage.

Kikkoman (S) Pte Ltd produces soy sauce with no added preservative. The company also produces low salt soy sauce that contains 40% less sodium than its regular soy sauce.

It is usual practice for Kikkoman (S) Pte Ltd to analyse samples of all its refined soy sauce produced in its manufacturing facility. This is to ensure that its product meets the high standard required of the Japanese Agricultural Standard for Soy Sauce (JAS).

To emphasise the importance of quality to its employees, Kikkoman (S) Pte Ltd has a policy and quality statement. The statement is emblazoned on the shirts of its employees. It states:

The Quality Policy of the Company is to:

1. produce high quality products at competitive prices
2. strive to meet customer's satisfaction

Kikkoman is showing to their customers that they are committed to achieving high standards of production in their respective manufacturing facilities. That is why Kikkoman (S) Pte Ltd worked hard in the early 90's to become the first soy sauce company in Singapore to be awarded the ISO9000 certification. Later, in 1998, it also achieved its Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Certification.

Interview At Tai Hua Food Industries Pte Ltd
The superb taste of Chinese soy sauce is largely due to its distinct manufacturing process. At Tai Hua, a special strain of Aspergillus oryzae is used in the solid-state culture. In the brine fermentation stage, no salt-loving (or salt-tolerant) microorganism is used. At Tai Hua, the importance of careful monitoring and controlling of each of the processing steps in the manufacture of Chinese soy sauce is stressed.

When it comes to quality evaluation, besides meeting the Singapore standard for soy sauce, Tai Hua's management strongly believes that an organoleptic evaluation of the product is equally important as well. It is a norm for its management and expert tasters to conduct regular tasting sessions of its products early in the morning on alternate days of the week.

Home grown Tai Hua also achieved its ISO9000 certification in 2000. Tai Hua is currently working hard to achieve its HACCP certification also.

In looking towards the future, Tai Hua acknowledges that consumers would like to stay informed of what they are consuming. In view of this need, it has introduced nutritional labelling in its different brands of soy sauces. Its visionary founder, Mr. Pek Cheng Chuan, accepted the challenge of the times and after selling Tai Hua soy sauce for 50 years under the old label, has personally selected a new logo and new image to sell the company's soy sauce. The new logo has now a stronger branding of Tai Hua and would soon be carrying the nutrition labels.