TSINGTAO

Tsingtao Brewery Group unveiled the Prince Seaweed Soda on July 27, an ocean-themed healthy drink jointly developed by Tsingtao’s national key laboratory for biofermentation engineering and a research team led by Guan Huashi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a leading scientist of modern marine biomedicine.

The Prince Seaweed Soda features natural mineral spring coming from 180 meters deep underground and seaweed extracts. Authoritative experiments have proved that the seaweed element in the product brings about antioxidants and immunizing power, allowing consumers to enhance health by simply drinking water.

Besides, the high-quality mineral spring means three times sparkling than ordinary sodas, which grants a refreshing taste but no fishy smell, thanks to a bioconversion fermentation technology and process adjustment by the research and development team.

Many people eat seaweed as food, but they only absorb some of the nutrients, mostly dietary fiber, said developers of the product. More nutrients of the seaweed are hidden in the cell wall, which is not easy to be fully absorbed. The key to the “health code” of seaweed is how to absorb its nutrients in a more comprehensive and efficient way.

The R&D team first obtained the algal tool enzymes from the seaweed, and used seaweed cell wall breaking extraction technology and enzyme-yeast coupled processing technology to turn the tool enzymes into “scissors” to cut the cell walls of algae layer by layer and cut the large molecular substances into small molecules that can be absorbed by human body more easily, so as to achieve the antioxidant .

Behind this breakthrough product are two leading research institutes. Tsingtao’s national key laboratory for biofermentation engineering is the only one of its kind nationwide, which boasts mature and standardized quality control systems. And the Marine Biomedical Research Institute of Qingdao, led by Academician Guan Huashi, has the first-class R&D capacity in the field of marine biological resources. Since the 1960s, Guan and his team have been engaged in comprehensive development and utilization of marine biological resources and marine biomedicine and food engineering. They have thus accumulated abundant expertise.

It is widely believed that beer and soda have the same root. In 1772, soda water was first made in a brewhouse, when British chemist Joseph Priestley found that water pumped with carbon dioxide gives a pleasant taste. That was how soda water was invented.

Since the 1940s, marine medicinal biological resources have attracted global focus, and it is a natural and right decision for Tsingtao to pay increasing attention to the area and start its health industry layout. The Prince Seaweed Soda is the company’s latest practice of its ocean strategy and health strategy.