A wall inside Jinhua Yinhe Biotech's factory displays details of probiotics. [Photo/Tide News]

In Tangxi town, Jinhua, Zhejiang province, a factory built to vaccine production standards is transforming the availability of high-quality Chinese probiotics.

Led by Bao Weichen, vice-president of Beijing Scitop Bio-tech and general manager of its subsidiary, Jinhua Yinhe Biotech, the facility marks a significant leap in probiotic production.

According to Bao, despite Jinhua not being the optimal choice for fermentation, its favorable business environment and government support made it ideal for the factory's location.

Initially, Bao's team faced challenges with outsourced production, risking core technology leaks and unstable product quality. This prompted the decision to construct their own facility, ensuring the highest level of sterility and precision.

The factory features over 5,000 automated control points, maintaining temperature changes of the fermentation tank within 0.2 C. Even slight deviations can alter bacterial metabolism, impacting activity.

A hundreds-of-meter-long wall inside the factory displays the origins and genetic details of various probiotics, sourced from diverse environments. These bacterial strains are part of a 57,000-strong collection curated over 37 years by Bao's teacher, Professor Zhang Heping of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, with 138 strains now commercialized.

Yinhe Biotech's products, with live bacteria counts of 200 billion to 1.5 trillion colony-forming units per gram and a freeze-dried survival rate over 90 percent, have attracted major dairy brands like Mengniu.

At present, Beijing Scitop Bio-tech's original bacteria powder has captured over 20 percent of China's probiotic market.