How technology can transform food culture

Dr J.W. Kuo has more than 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry and serves as the chairman of Topco Scientific Co. In 2013, he founded Anyong Fresh, and has since been focused on transforming Taiwan's food culture with advanced technology. He hopes Taiwan to become a premier destination for dining culture in Asia.

While Kuo is 64 years old, he doesn't look his age. Discussing the reason he founded Anyong Fresh, he recalls a comment the Dalai Lama once made about Taiwanese. "When you're young you sacrifice your health for the sake of earning lots of money, and when you're old you need to spend that money in order to maintain your health." The Dalai Lama's comment made Guo realize the importance of health: Without good health, no matter how much money one has, that money is useless.

Kuo points out that increasing rates of urbanization have changed people's lifestyle choices. As more people join the workforce, they have less time to cook, and thus eat out more frequently. Currently, Taiwanese eat out about 50% of the time and this figure is likely to reach 70% in the future. Meanwhile, food safety is an increasing concern for Taiwanese. People in Taiwan want to worry less about the safety of the food they eat. With this in mind, Kuo entered the agriculture and fishery industries and decided to focus on food processing, manufacturing and marketing.

We hope that food we buy in the supermarket or eat in restaurants does not contain any artificial ingredients harmful to the human body, Kuo says. But he points out that people all too commonly consume large amounts of food addititives containing antibiotics. For this reason, kidney and colorectal cancers are common in Taiwan, he says.

Kuo notes that the average lifespan of a person in Taiwan is 80.3 years, which is similar to Northern Europe. But Taiwanese spend about 7 years of their lives in bed, while for Northern Europeans it's only 2-4 weeks. As such, Taiwanese need to be educated about how to keep fit. To live a healthly lifestyle there are three areas we must focus on: diet, exercise and sleep. I am focused on diet and exercise.

Three years on from the founding of Anyong Fresh and the company is still building itself up, Kuo says. It is time consuming to produce food without artificial additives and costs are higher all around (both for the manufacturer and consumer). Further, while Anyong's products are tasty and nutritious, consumers cannot feel an obvious effect on their health from consuming them compared to food products containing artificial ingredients.

"It's a bit like wearing beautiful clothes at night - nobody can distinguish them from ordinary clothes," he says. As a result, Kuo has adjusted his strategy. Instead of targeting the mass market, Anyong now focuses on selling its products to a niche market of health-conscious consumers, especially those whose health is not perfect - the type of people who don't need to take medication yet, but who with a better diet and exercise routine can improve their physical and mental well being. "This type of consumer is more willing to buy our products," he says.

Looking ahead, Anyong Fresh aims to develop ready-to-eat products. Kuo sees an opportunity in this segment because many Taiwanese don't have time to cook, and when they do cook, they spend 30-50 minutes preparing food and only 10 minutes dining. Healthy and natural ready-to-eat food will allow people more time to enjoy their meals, he says.

Kuo believes Anyong Fresh's opportunities extend beyond Taiwan's borders. He notes that global seafood production totals US$43 billion while the domestic Taiwan seafood market is only worth NT$100 billion. With its excellent technology, Anyong has the potential to compete globally. The key to making the company globally competitive is reaching a high level of automation.

Aquaculture and livestock require people to be in close contact with animals in order to ensure the food is fresh. Fisheries are labor intensive. Yet fewer and fewer people want to do this type of work. The solution to the problem is to automate production - this will reduce costs and be more efficient.

There is a factory in Kaohsiung's Mituo District (in the fishing harbor) where the automation level is 75%. The goal is to reach 95% within two years, Kuo says. Taiwan will need to set up factories in Southeast Asia if it wants to tap opportunities in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. In order to do that, it will need to have a highly competitive automated production process.

Kuo's dream is to make Taiwan a center of dining culture in Asia. To reach this goal, he founded a consultancy to help Taiwan's restaurants get Michelin certification. Kuo hopes he can help Taiwan establish 300 Michelin starred restaurants. Earning a Michelin star is difficult for a restaurant becuase it must meet a very strict set of requirements set by Michelin.

Kuo also hopes to help Taiwan's chefs to refine the preparation and presentation of their food - to make it more of a visual art. The emphasis should not solely be on technology or competitive pricing - such as food offered at the night market. Some dishes at the night market only cost NT$150, but a single dish in a Michelin-starred restaurant might be US$100. If Taiwan wants to attract wealthy visitors, it needs to offer authentic high-end restaurants.

Taking Maslow's theory as an example, Guo notes that once a society reaches a certain level of development, in which people's basic needs are met, its citizens seek increasingly higher levels of satisfaction. Initially, people eat simply in order to survive, but when they have disposable income they start going out to restaurants to enjoy the dining experience - the food and presentation.

In Kuo's view, it will not be easy for Taiwan to reach this level of dining culture. For one thing, Taiwanese focus too much on price, which is partially the result of long-term low wages. As a result, they may ignore food safety concerns and related health issues. At the same time, the management of Taiwan's food supply chain could be improved. It is there that many of Taiwan's food safety problems originate.

Kuo points out that many Taiwanese seafood sellers add the chemical Aquasorb to seafood to help it retain water and look fresher. In fact, there are two kinds of Aquasorb: one is food level and the other industrial level. Ill-informed seafood vendors may use the industrial-grade Aquasorb on seafood sold for human consumption and most consumers will never know that they are consuming something harmful.

Kuo also cautions against buying jumping shrimp from a wet market in the evening. Thye look fresh but in fact they have been preserved in formaldehyde so they don't spoil. Formaldehyde is harmuful to the body and it cannot be easily detected once it's been consumed. It's important to control food from its origin to maintain food safety.

Kuo is a disciplined manager. After all, he has more than 30 years of experience in the IC sector, where it's essential to be this way. Yet Taiwan's food industry is not strictly managed, and the focus is on reducing costs and low retail prices.

People even complain if the price of a traditional dish like stewed pork over rice increases by NT$5. But the rising price reflects the cost of stricter food safety standards. This is a serious problem in Taiwan's food supply chain. If Kuo is able to transform the mindset of the nation's food industry, Taiwan will benefit greatly.