Latest news with #NanyangSauce
Malay Mail
06-07-2025
- Health
- Malay Mail
Could the secret to beating cancer be hiding in soya sauce? Singapore scientists are taking a closer look
SINGAPORE, July 6 — A Singapore skincare company born out of a traditional soya sauce business may hold clues to new cancer therapies, thanks to a fungus used in fermentation. The Straits Times reported today that Kitkoji, a spin-off from heritage brand Nanyang Sauce, is working with the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) to study fungal metabolites — molecules produced during fermentation — for their potential in treating cancer. The one-year collaboration, signed in May, will focus on validating early findings that showed anti-cancer effects in a proprietary extract found in Kitkoji's products. The key ingredient is Aspergillus oryzae, or koji, a mould commonly used in fermenting soya sauce, miso and sake. In 2022, Nanyang's soya sauce was found to have antioxidant and anti-ageing properties, prompting CEO Ken Koh to launch Kitkoji, a skincare brand using koji-based extracts. In 2023, a user claimed Kitkoji products helped clear melanoma spots, prompting Koh to approach NCCS. Lab tests later found that 'Extract K' showed cancer-fighting potential in a range of cancers, including breast, lung and skin cancers, and performed well in xenograft models using human cancer cells. NCCS and Kitkoji will now explore the cancer mycobiome — fungal communities found in and around tumours — to identify active compounds that may be developed into future treatments. 'This extended collaboration reflects our shared vision to translate scientific discovery into tangible clinical outcomes,' said Assistant Professor Jason Chan, director of the Cancer Discovery Hub. Globally, fungi-based compounds are gaining attention for cancer treatment. In 2024, researchers in the UK reported that cordycepin, derived from a parasitic fungus, could slow tumour growth.
New Paper
06-07-2025
- Health
- New Paper
Soya sauce could help treat cancer
The soya sauce in your food could one day play a part in cancer treatment, taking an unexpected path through skincare technology. The use of fungal metabolites - small molecules produced during metabolism - in the development of new cancer treatments is being studied as part of a collaboration between Kitkoji, a local company which produces fermented skincare, and the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS). The two signed an agreement in May to expand their research, conducted through the Cancer Discovery Hub at NCCS. Kitkoji originated as a spin-off from Nanyang Sauce, a family-run soya sauce manufacturer. In 2022, studies on Nanyang Sauce's traditional fermented soya sauce revealed its anti-oxidant and anti-ageing properties, according to Mr Ken Koh, who is the owner of Nanyang Sauce and Kitkoji's chief executive officer. This is due to the presence of a type of mould known as koji, he told The Straits Times. Scientifically known as Aspergillus oryzae, koji plays a key role in the fermentation of soya beans for making soya sauce as well as in the making of alcoholic beverages such as sake. The decision was made to develop a skincare range under the brand name Kitkoji, which combines the word koji with Kit, his daughter's name. Then in 2023, another breakthrough emerged when a customer from Australia reached out to say that using Kitkoji's products had made his skin cancer, or melanoma, spots disappear. Mr Koh was taken aback by the discovery which prompted him to approach NCCS to get all Kitkoji products tested. Though findings have not yet been published, laboratory tests showed promising results in the treatment of 25 cancers - including breast, lung, skin and gastrointestinal cancers - using a proprietary extract found in Kitkoji's products such as serums and masks. The tests had shown the effectiveness of the extract, known as Extract K, in killing cancer cells for certain blood cancers and solid tumours, as well as its efficacy in treating xenograft models - where human cancer cells are transplanted into animals to study drug responses, among other things. Tests had also helped identify potential active compounds responsible for anti-cancer effects. The research collaboration agreement with NCCS aims to validate these findings, and discover what makes Kitkoji products effective against cancer cells, said Mr Koh. Kitkoji said its research collaboration with NCCS will focus on exploring the cancer mycobiome to identify novel bioactive compounds - molecules which can promote good health - to develop innovative cancer treatments utilising fungal metabolites. The cancer mycobiome refers to the fungal community in and around a tumour, which plays a role in the development and progression of cancer. As part of their expanded partnership, Kitkoji and NCCS aim to identify lead compounds, or chemical compounds which could treat disease, within the extract. The year-long collaboration will include assessment of the dosage required in treating various cancers, among other tests. These are aimed at establishing proof of concept, and potentially setting the stage for eventual clinical trials. Assistant Professor Jason Chan, director of the Cancer Discovery Hub, said he hoped the partnership with Kitkoji would bring innovative new therapies to cancer patients. "This extended collaboration reflects our shared vision to translate scientific discovery into tangible clinical outcomes," he added. Other studies have also pointed to the potential uses of fungi in treating cancer. In November 2024, research by scientists from the University of Nottingham, published in the scientific journal FEBS Letters, found that cordycepin - a chemical produced by a parasitic fungus that infects caterpillars - can slow down the growth of cancer cells.
CNA
05-06-2025
- Business
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - Are businesses on the ground sensing a change in consumer behaviour?
CNA938 Rewind Singapore's retail sales figures for April up 0.3 percent on year, extending the 1.3 percent growth from the previous month. But restaurants have seen a decline of 6.7 percent month on month. Daniel Martin and Justine Moss speak with Ken Koh, the 3rd generation business owner of Nanyang Sauce and Dharmik Kumar, General Manager of Royal Plaza on Scotts, which manages popular buffet restaurant Carousel.
CNA
09-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
How Ken Koh revived his ailing family business in Singapore to produce the ‘Rolls-Royce' of soya sauce
Entrepreneurs have been known to trumpet bold claims, and third-generation soya sauce maker Ken Koh of Nanyang Sauce is no exception. He professes to sit on the 'vat of youth,' frothing gently with soya beans that are fermented the traditional way, laced with koji mould. The latter, he posited, contains properties that may reverse ageing and — if you'll suspend your disbelief — possibly kill cancer cells. Never mind that such assertions may bear whiffs of snake oil sales spiel; Koh has skin in the game. He's stumped up resources to launch a fermented skincare line, as well as a new age pharmaceutical firm that inked a research collaboration agreement with National Cancer Centre Singapore to explore the cancer therapeutic potential of mycobiota fermentation. While the 41-year-old demurs on the scientific details, he says ongoing research is promising, prompting a recent trip to Dubai to bankroll his venture. Admittedly, it may seem out of left field. 'Never in a gazillion years would I have imagined that I'd move in this direction,' he mused. 'I wanted to tell the world about Nanyang Sauce and sell as much sauce as I could, to turn our family business around and keep it going for the next generation,' said the entrepreneur, who began to delve into the beauty and wellness space after being approached by an A*STAR researcher requesting to study the properties of his soya beans. Two years ago, he launched wellness-inspired private dining company Nanyang Chef, which features dishes starring ingredients sourced from Bhutan and Borneo. While he credits those pursuits with the pithy slogan, 'the secret is in the sauce,' there was a time where Nanyang Sauce's branding was more soya than sizzle. A LEGACY ON THE BRINK By the time Koh joined his family business — hitherto run by his mother and uncles — they were beset by debt and circling the proverbial drain. He traces the company's decline to 1996, when his grandfather and Nanyang Sauce's founder, Tan Tiong How, passed away at the age of 70 after suffering a heart attack. 'He was working so hard, always the first in the factory and the last to leave,' he said. 'He did not plan for succession, as it was considered inauspicious. That's why I wrote my will in my 20s.' In a way, the family's fortune has waxed and waned with Singapore's shifting tides. Tan, who came from a line of soya sauce makers from China's Fujian Province, fled the Sino-Japanese war for Singapore in 1942 — carrying a jar of koji and the desire to claw out a better future. He eked out a hardscrabble existence as a coolie and brewed his own soya sauce to flavour his meagre porridge meals. Friends developed a taste for Tan's umami-rich brews, so he eventually began peddling it out of a tricycle. This bare-bones outfit built on elbow grease creaked and clattered its way into a kampung factory in 1959. While they relocated several times over the decades, the family has hewed to their painstaking method of fermenting hand-brewed soya sauce under the sun for months, stubbornly eschewing mass-market machine production at their own mounting costs. This was before the term 'artisanal' was flashed like a badge of honour by chefs and soap-makers alike. 'People are now starting to appreciate old school, real food again, but the 1990s and early 2000s were all about cheaper, processed food and air-conditioned hypermarkets like Carrefour,' recounted Koh. The patriarch's sudden passing during that super-sized milieu marked a nadir for the business. 'He was the one making the deals with the zha huo dian (sundry shops) and minimarts, and people respected him. When he left, there was really no one to fill his shoes,' recalled Koh. He witnessed his family suffer the financial repercussions of its low-key, handshake economy approach, which ultimately precluded their products from supermarket shelves. 'I grew up feeling like it was all so such a pity. When my grandfather was running the business, we could afford to give away gold pendants in lucky draws and all this stopped because there was no clear succession plan,' he reflected. THE GRANDSON WHO WOULDN'T QUIT As a child, Koh played hide-and-seek among clay kilns steeped in the earthy aroma of fermenting soya sauce. He was something of a right-hand man for his grandfather, who entrusted him with counting spare change and tracking stock prices on the flickering Teletex screen. 'He would say, 'Call me if the numbers turn green. If they go white, which means losses, call me faster,'' he recounted. That was Koh's introduction to entrepreneurship. By the age of 11, he was a young fly on the wall at board meetings — and one such conclave remains etched in his memory. A group of consultants had proposed a quicker, cheaper way to produce commercial soya sauce using chemicals. Visibly rankled, the formidable founder rose from his seat and pointed at his wide-eyed grandson. 'He shouted in Hokkien, 'If I don't dare to feed this to my grandson, how can I feed the rest of Singapore?',' he recalled. The episode endured as a lesson in conviction and authenticity. 'He was not willing to shortchange his customers and stuck to those values,' said Koh. Those anecdotes imply that he was, for all intents and purposes, groomed to succeed his grandfather — so why till his 30s to claim the mantle? According to Koh, his mother and uncles emphatically discouraged him from joining the business, out of good intentions. 'No parent wants their child to walk the hard path,' he reasoned. Yet, family members cannot deny that echoes of Nanyang Sauce's headstrong founder resonate in Koh. As an 18-year-old buzzing with moxy, he shrugged off failure after unsuccessfully pitching for funding at a Singapore Management University business plan competition, and bootstrapped his corporate training company with just S$2,000. The cock-sure youth secured his first contract within a year, and built a venture that continues to thrive to this day. 'Before other people believe in you, you must first believe in yourself,' declared Koh, who lent that training as a dragon boater helped mould his self-confidence. In 2017, he channelled that obdurate spirit into a bold proposition for his elders: Let him staunch the bleeding of their beleaguered business. He'd start by hiking the price of a bottle of soy sauce to S$10. This was one leap too far for his incredulous predecessors. 'Their jaws dropped. 'Kikkoman sells a bottle of their soya sauce for S$6, what makes you think you can do that?',' he recounted. But this wasn't the flight of fancy dreamt up by a greenhorn. He'd visited enough soya sauce factories across the region to know that they were singular in brewing their soya sauce the 'traditional, kung-fu way'— instead of boosting production through chemical hydrolysation. Pricing it at market rate was no longer sustainable. To allay his uncle's and mother's fears that he'd make a muck of their decades-old business, he set up a separate entity — one that sold their surplus, aged soya sauce. 'I named it Nanyang Sauce, as they were using the Golden Swan label. Not all of our forefathers were literate, so many brands used logos of animals that could be easily recognised,' he explained. But that was just the tip of his branding overhaul. Koh then leased a clapped out old shophouse at East Coast Road and transformed it into an experiential space where customers discovered his products through workshops and savoured his soya sauce chicken. Slowly, he cultivated a loyal following of chefs and food connoisseurs with a penchant for the sauce's richly flavoured, moreish notes. The momentum eventually landed his products on the shelves of FairPrice Finest and Cold Storage. Besides those premium supermarkets, Nanyang Sauce products are now also sold on Redmart, Shopee, as well as overseas in Indonesia and Malaysia. Along the way, the separate businesses merged, but not without friction between him and the second-generation. 'We are in a harmonious situation now, but it wasn't always this way,' he shared. 'I changed a lot of things they weren't used to. For instance, we never had an automated invoicing system, and relied on hand-written invoices that simply stated Ah Tan or Ah Chai,' he said ruefully. FULL STEAM AHEAD Having propelled the business into the digital age, Koh revealed that every drop of soya sauce they produce is spoken for, with the brewery now running at full tilt. It bears testament to his marketing savvy in distilling a fine brew from what was once a fusty old outfit. At the same time, his mother's tireless dedication to the craft of soya sauce brewing was vindicated when she was conferred the Stewards of Intangible Cultural Heritage award by the National Heritage Board in 2021. But success, as they know, is a perishable brew. While their lease is up for renewal this year, they're all teed up to open a production facility in Bhutan, where they source organic, non-GMO soya beans and pristine glacial water for their bespoke vats. Priced at an eye-watering S$10,000 each, these are in high demand, according to Koh. The remote Himalayan kingdom holds a special place in his heart. For one, he's convinced that people there — who are the 'nicest, gentlest and happiest you can find'— are naturally inclined to brew soya sauce par excellence, thanks to the positive energy they radiate. He dubs it 'the Rolls-Royce of soy sauce' — a nod to his 1984 Silver Spirit, which he regards less as an accoutrement of success and more as a sentimental treasure. 'I want to build Nanyang Sauce like how they build a Rolls-Royce, from their dedication to handicraft, to the materials they use,' he concluded.
