SHANGHAI, Oct. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 18, the "2024 Totole Umami Science Symposium" hosted by the China Condiment Association and Shanghai Totole Food Co., Ltd. and guided by Shanghai Hongqiao International Central Business District was held in Shanghai.
Over the years, Totole has always been committed to promoting the development, innovation and upgrading of the umami industry. At a time when the digital era is empowering the innovation of the Xian industry, the conference with the theme of "Xian Yuan Zhihe, Longitudinal Leadership to Constant", brings together global industry pioneers and academic experts to build an authoritative industry exchange platform, aiming to discuss the innovation and development of the condiment industry in the new era of intelligence.
Bai Yan, President of China Condiment Association, attended the meeting and delivered a speech, she said: As one of the five flavors (sour, sweet, bitter, salty and umami), umami has been loved and accepted by more and more consumers. With the theme of "Fresh Source Intelligent Cooperation-Longitudinal Leadership to Constant", this seminar is committed to the close combination of Xian taste improvement, source management and intelligent application. Among them, "fresh" refers to continuously improving the freshness of products to meet the eternal pursuit of food by consumers; The "source" focuses on ensuring the traceability of fresh ingredients, as well as strengthening the stability and scientific management of the production source, aiming to ensure the safety and freshness of products and promote the sustainable development of the industry. At the same time, "intelligence" means that with the continuous progress and wide application of AI, big data and other technologies, intelligent technology has been deeply integrated into the production and operation management of enterprises, from market research, product research and development, production control, channel management to consumer operation management, all links have achieved intelligent upgrades. It is expected that through this seminar, all experts can actively exchange ideas, collide with more sparks of wisdom, and jointly contribute to the health and sustainable development of the Xian industry.
Zhang Xiqiang, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé Greater China, said in his speech that Nestlé Group has always been committed to the research and development, promotion and application of Xian science, and has the world's leading R&D institutions. With the deepening of research, the problems and unknown areas found have also increased, so the combination of industry, university and research will be promoted every year. Through this umami science documentary, Nestlé has shown the public a new insight into umami, and Zhang Xiqiang said that in the future, Nestlé will spare no effort to promote the globalization of umami business and Chinese cuisine.
Dare to be fresh - deepen technology and help innovationFood is the foundation of people's livelihood, and taste is the essence of food. Seasoning techniques are crucial and determine the flavor of a food. At present, the scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are flourishing, and innovation-driven is the core competitiveness of the country. The condiment industry needs to keep up with the times, strengthen technological innovation, promote industrial upgrading, accelerate the transformation of achievements, and achieve breakthroughs in new technologies, new processes and new products.
Cao Hui, Head of Nestlé's Cooking Food Business in Greater China and CEO of Totole, mentioned at the meeting that Totole has always adhered to its original intention and determination to "let 1.3 billion people taste more delicious" since its establishment. Over the years, the company has been committed to the research and exploration of Xian science, digging deep into the mystery of Xian, studying the source and perception level of Xian, and exploring the differences of Xian in different regions and different cultural backgrounds. Through continuous research and innovation, Totole has successfully developed a series of "high-quality, good-tasting" umami products. When discussing the current development concept, Cao Hui emphasized that "Xianyuan Zhihe, Longitudinal Leadership" appropriately reflects the core development concept of Totole. Totole keeps up with the pace of the times and makes full use of the latest AI big data technology to achieve accurate screening and quantitative analysis of umami. Cao Hui further pointed out that the use of big data technology can also optimize production, sales and other links, and improve the overall operational efficiency.
As early as 2019, Totole was approved to establish a municipal-level "Academician Expert Workstation", which opened the operation mechanism and organizational guarantee of the integration of production, education and research. At the exhibition site of the Xian Conference, Totole exhibited the industry's first freshness detector for solid compound seasoning products. At present, the freshness detector project has passed the technical novelty search and acceptance of the third-party authority, and the comprehensive technology has reached the international advanced level.
Fresh upgrades – reinventing SKUs and setting standardsAt the event, Totole's family portrait series products were unveiled, showing that Totole keeps up with consumer demand and market expansion, and has achieved remarkable results in the "second pillar" strategy. Through in-depth market insights, Totole has reshaped its product portfolio and focused on SKU enhancement, which now has 400+ SKUs. At the same time, Totole has also continuously strengthened its customized service capabilities on the catering side in recent years, and launched exclusive products for subdivisions and specific channels, including matsutake mushroom fresh in retail channels, Tianshang chicken powder in catering channels, noodles fresh in the noodle segment, and "one pack" recipe-style seasonings and soup fresh cold brew sauce and hot pot base series that are popular among young people, covering solid and liquid seasonings, and the B-end and C-end are all developed in a balanced manner.
In 2024, Totole will continue to consolidate the solid seasonings represented by chicken essence, and further increase the innovative growth of liquid seasonings represented by soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken juice and recipe-style seasonings. At the same time, in response to the needs of consumers in the high-end and segmented market, Totole has launched a thin-salt chicken essence seasoning with reduced salt but not fresh freshness, newly launched with zero added chicken juice, and comprehensively upgraded a variety of oyster sauce products to further meet the needs of consumers.
Totole always adheres to quality and standards, and promotes the development of the condiment industry with scientific research and innovation. In the process of creating innovation and upgrading of umami products, Totole not only realizes the improvement of its own value, but also fully supports and promotes the standardization process of the condiment industry. At the conference, the release ceremony of the group standard of "Matsutake Fresh Seasoning" was also held, which will help the standardization of Matsutake fresh seasoning products and promote the entire condiment industry to move towards high-quality development.
As the condiment industry enters a new stage of high-quality development, matsutake fresh seasoning, as an important category, has also ushered in a critical period of its own standardization construction. In recent years, the market for fresh matsutake mushrooms has risen rapidly, and how to ensure the nutrition, health and flavor of fresh matsutake seasonings has become a key issue that enterprises need to solve urgently.
Totole participated in the drafting of the "Matsutake Fresh Seasoning" group standard, which not only fills the standard gap in the matsutake fresh seasoning industry, but also strengthens consumers' trust in such products. This standard will help promote enterprises to strengthen quality control, promote product innovation and upgrading, and improve the overall development level of the condiment industry.
Rarely Explored - Data Empowerment and Fresh Source IntelligenceAs the core topic of the conference, the "Smart Cooperation" strategy focuses on the fine screening and efficient integration of AI big data, aiming to streamline the R&D process of Xian products and improve operational efficiency, in order to more accurately meet market demand.
Totole not only continues to deepen product innovation, but also practices the strategy of "intelligent cooperation" in multiple dimensions. In terms of digital marketing, Totole has comprehensively laid out nine mainstream social platform matrices, including Shuangwei, Doukuai, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, etc., and has created a powerful data center by accurately connecting with consumer needs and integrating multi-channel data, providing comprehensive and in-depth data insights for brand building, sales and product development.
In terms of marketing innovation, this year, Totole cleverly integrated AI technology, innovatively launched the original fresh love poem bottle, and launched a custom name hiding poem activity to provide consumers with customized exclusive love talk services and convey unique Chinese-style romantic feelings.
Totole builds a smart factory to ensure that it can quickly respond to market changes and fully implement enterprise management. Through the introduction of a series of advanced intelligent digital systems such as OA office automation system, automatic feeding system, palletizing collaborative robot, etc., Totole optimizes business processes, reduces human labor intensity, and ensures production safety with the help of AI monitoring system, improving product quality and production line output.
In the future, Totole will continue to explore healthy sources of umami, integrate intelligent technology, and promote umami science to new heights.