(10 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kawasaki, Japan – 9 April 2025
1. Demonstration of Sonofai a machine that uses ultrasound waves to assess the fattiness of frozen tuna fish
2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese), Yasutomi Suguru, Researcher, Fujitsu:
“If there is a lot of fat, then it’s harder for the soundwaves to pass, so the waveforms will be displayed smaller. And for this one, AI analysed it and concluded that it is extremely fatty.”
3. Demonstration of Sonofai machine
4. SOUNDBITE (Japanese), Hisashi Ishida, president of Sonofai:
“Up until now, inspecting tuna always required cutting it with a bandsaw. That’s a very dangerous task. So, I think one major benefit is that this process may no longer be necessary. What we haven’t been able to measure until now—things like fat content, and going forward, even freshness, texture, and density—being able to understand those internal conditions is, I think, a significant step.”
5. Various of demonstration of Sonofai machine, screen showing fat content
STORYLINE:
Seafood lovers know the fatty marbling is what makes tuna sashimi and sushi so tasty, so for the industry, it’s the level of fattiness that’s used to judge its quality and pricing.
Usually, several people assess how fatty a tuna is by cutting the tail with a giant saw-like knife, an operation that takes about 60 seconds per fish.
But now a machine called Sonofai uses ultrasound waves to do the job in 12 seconds, operated by a person without prior knowledge of how to carve fish.
Here, Fujitsu, the Japanese company behind the technology, is demonstrating how Sonofai works.
Clearly a great deal of thought has gone into its development and its name.
The word is blended from “sono” referring to “sound,” “f” for Fujitsu, and “ai,” or artificial intelligence. The name refers to its components but also stands for “son of AI.”
A conveyor belt transports a whole frozen tuna fish, about a metre (3 feet) in size, into a machine that beams ultrasound waves.
Sensors pick up the waves to draw a zigzagging diagram on a screen to indicate the fattiness of the fish.
Fatty meat absorbs fewer sound waves than lean meat and AI sorts real data from misleading “noise,” or irregularities.
Hisashi Ishida, president of Sonofai, the startup behind the technology, also heads Ishida Tec Co., which makes food-manufacturing equipment. He says the new tech is safer, more sanitary and efficient.
“Fatty fish tastes good, feels better on your tongue and is called ‘toro,’ ” he says. “Overseas needs are growing because sushi culture is now appreciated around the world.”
Beef has a grading system for fat and expected flavour, but being able to gauge the quality of tuna is new, according to Hideto Okada, who oversees AI at Fujitsu.
Sonofai uses the same technology as medical ultrasound scans where high-frequency inaudible sound waves are absorbed or bounced back to create video-like images of things that aren’t visible, like a foetus inside a mother’s womb.
Unlike the CT scan or X-ray, it doesn’t use radiation, which can harm tissue.
In a medical setting doctors can use ultrasound to examine the fattiness of the human liver which is linked to diabetes and other health problems.
Hisashi Ishida the President of Sonofai believes the technology will be even more adaptable going forward.
He says: "Freshness, texture, and density—being able to understand those internal conditions is, I think, a significant step.”
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