In Foshan, Guangdong, one of China's biggest soy sauce makers is proving that traditional industries can go high-tech.

Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food Co. runs AI-powered filling lines that can bottle 52,000 units per hour, which is about 14 bottles every second. If a bottle's weight fluctuates, the system detects it in 0.15 seconds and keeps the margin of error within 2 grams, roughly the weight of half a sheet of A4 paper.

But the automation goes much further. The company uses near-infrared spectroscopy, essentially an "online CT scan", that collects more than 100 wavelength readings per second. AI analyzes the data in real time and outputs key quality indicators such as amino acid nitrogen content.

“In the past, obtaining these figures required manual sampling and lab testing, which took about 45 minutes," said engineer Guo, an intelligent fermentation specialist. "Now, if any quality issue arises, the system automatically halts the line."

Quality control has shifted from random spot checks to continuous, real-time monitoring.

Flavor is the soul of soy sauce. "We used to rely on experienced workers, but the human nose gets tired and can be affected by illness," said Huang, a quality engineer. "Today, the electronic nose works 24 hours a day. Decades of worker experience have been digitised into this machine."

Behind the scenes, the company has also upgraded its core ingredient, the mould strain Aspergillus oryzae, which engineers describe as the "chip" of soy sauce. Raw material utilisation has reached 90 percent, and protein utilisation has risen by 3 percentage points.

The company uses automated fermenting discs, 20 metres in diameter, each holding about 50 tonnes of material, which is equivalent to the annual output of a small soy sauce factory. Dozens of these discs power the company's annual production of over 3 million tonnes.

From soybean to bottle, traditional brewing is being reshaped by smart technology and the result is a product that tastes the same, but is made very differently.

Reporter| Wang Luyao

Editor| Yin Juewen

Video| Zhang Qida

Proofreader| Chen Xuede