This is our official report for the trip, I purposely place it here. Mind the formality. :)

On 12th of March 2005, the students of Biotechnology, Law and Ethics class (SBT 2232) went for a field trip to MARDI. There were about six lecturers accompanying the students, together with a laboratory assistant. This trip was conducted to expose students to the application of what have been learnt in courses related to biotechnology like food processing, tissue culture, transgenic organisms and bioprocess.

The students were gathered at front of the Kulliyyah of Science building and left the campus at 7.20 am. We arrived at MARDI’s Food Technology Research Center at 8.15 am. Pn. Zainab welcomed us. We were then briefed about this centre’s activities. MARDI’s mission is to develop and promote leading edge technology in food processing. We were told that there are seven R & D center in MARDI, with each having its own concentration and speciality. There are three objectives of the Food Technology Research Center:

1. To develop the local food industry through efficient processing techniques.
2. To maintain high quality products.
3. To optimise resources.

An example of MARDI optimising research is by exploiting the full uses of buah rambai. It was found that this plant could be used to make candies, cordial and many others. MARDI is trying to encourage people to replant this plant as previously the plant was usually chopped off, because it was thought of not having much use. The structure of this research center is divided into three: food science and food safety; processing and product development; and packaging and handling. Previously, there were four divisions, the fourth one being entrepreneur development. But, this was later closed for the food research center and a more general one was opened. Currently, there are 44 research officers for the nine disciplines.

The various foods produced by MARDI are: satay; bologna; salami; frozen TV dinner consisting of rice, vegetables and meat; instant keoy teow and noodles; high fibre snack; high fibre fruit drinks; sugar free chocolate; low calorie traditional cakes (kuih); rice premix based on unpolished rice; herbal rice and herbal porridge premixes; high fibre coconut-oat snack; low calorie pineapple and roselle jam and spreads; Malaysian speciality food (ayam percik, ikan percik, nasi lemak, nasi dagang, otak-otak); herbal products (jelly, drink, confectionery, rice premix); fish and fish products (surimi, surimi products, frozen sata, fish satay); and products from fruits (minimally processed fruits, candied fruits, fruit confectionery jelly, fruit yoghurt, vacuum-fried fruits, fruit rolls, concentrated fruit juices, spray dried products, jams, snacks). Malaysian speciality food are done to promote it to the world market by using processes such as dehydration, chilling, freezing and processing. The health snacks or foods produced by MARDI are ensured to have low calories, low fat, low sugar, low salt, and low cholesterol, rich in vitamins and tasty.

The briefing session ended at 9.30 am with a question and answer session. This was followed by refreshment. At 9.50 am, were taken to the pilot plant. This is the place where various food products of MARDI are processed. There were various instruments and machines to make e.g. keoy teow and noodles and cordials. Then, we were brought to another plant that housed a satay maker, fluid spray dryer and many others. This session ended at 10.30 am.
At about 10.45 am, we were at the Biotechnology division of MARDI. We were given another briefing from Pn. Norlia and it was a general briefing regarding MARDI’s objectives and activities. This was followed by refreshment. At 11.15 am, we left to go to the laboratories of the Biotechnology department. There were three labs: microbiology, tissue culture and Sol-Gel. The students were broken into two groups.

The first laboratory was the tissue culture laboratory. It was divided into four segments: sterilisation room, media preparation room, transfer room and culture room. The plants that were currently cultured at that time were pineapple, chilli, pomelo, mangosteen, tea and banana. The pomelo was a transgenic plant with carotenoid gene added into it, so that the pomelo will have a golden skin. In the culture room, the temperature is at 25- 28oC. It has light for 16 hours and 6 hours without light. This mimics the normal daylight.

Next, we were brought to the Biodiagnosis and Biosafety laboratory. We were briefed by Mohd. Affendi. He first talked about the detection of Ganoderma sp. in oil palm. This project was collaboration with Golden Hope Plantation. Then, we were briefed about genetically modified organisms, where MARDI has developed a detection kit to determine if a plant is genetically modified by the presence of a CaMV promoter gene. Another kit developed by MARDI was the Rapid Detection Kit for Pesticide Residues using Sol-Gel technology. This kit was a winner in Geneva 2004.

The last laboratory was the Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory. We were briefed by Sew Yun Shin. In this laboratory, transgenic plants were made e.g. chilli, papaya, pomelo, pineapple, orchid and paddy. All these plants are modified so that they are resistant to the various diseases that they are susceptible to.

The visit ended at 12.50 pm. We reached back at the university at 1.50 pm.

In conclusion, the trip was proven to be beneficial and of assistance to students as it provides wider exposure to what and how biotechnology can be applied and further used as tools for improvement and advancement in day to day life. Furthermore, students also gained a basic overview of their potential job prospects in the future. Therefore, this trip should be implemented in future so that others can gain the benefits.