Department of Biology

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

Food Science And Nutrition

(SBK 3023)

-Report of Study Trip To Vitagen-

Group B (1)

Group Members :

1. Phua Wan Jien (D20091035127)

2. Norharyan Erdayu Bt Sahar (D20091035078)

3. Salmiza Bt Zainal Abidin (D20091035074)

4. Nor ’Awaathif Bt Mohd Ghazali Lee (D20091035070)

Lecturer Name : Dr Hasimah Binti Alimon

VITAGEN - Malaysia's 1st Cultured Milk

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Vitagen ia cultured milk with probiotics. It contains good bacteria like Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei that are cultivated in milk. There are five different variants which are LB, grape, orange, apple and pineapple. It contains real fruit juice (except LB variant) and cultured in quality milk without any preservatives. Each bottle of Vitagen contains more than 10 billion good bacteria where can benefit our intestines if consumed regularly.

The live of lactobacillus cultures are from Chr. Hansen's Lab, Denmark. Chr. Hansen's Lab is known as world leading biotechnology company which has been supplying high quality bacterial cultures to the dairy cultures to the dairy industry worldwide for over 100 years. Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei are probiotics to help replenish the good bacteria in digestive system by:

Helping body to digest and absorb nutrients Boosting body's immune system Protecting immune system against infectious organisms and other invaders Reducing harmful toxins and cancer causing substances Helping the gut cells to grow and stay healthy Increasing the number of healthy blood cells to protect body from diseases

2.0 RECOGNITION

a) ISO 22000 (International Standard Organization) Certified 9001-2008

Vitagen is produced right here in Singapore by Malaysia Dairy Industries Pte Ltd. In 1994, we were awarded the ISO 9002 Certification for Quality Management System. In 2003, it was upgraded to ISO 9001:2000 certification, and renew to ISO 9001:2008 in 2010. With the ISO certification, the company improved its internal processes, ensuring consistent product quality and faster response to customers' requirements.

b) HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) Certification

In 2001, seeing the need to assure consumers of safe & wholesome food, Malaysia Dairy Industries Pte Ltd embarked on a food safety program and subsequently achieved Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification. This program focuses on food safety from the procurement and handling, manufacturing and distribution of the final goods.

c) HALAL Certified

To ensure that all Muslims can enjoy Vitagen, we have not only selected ingredients suitable for Muslims but also obtained Halal certification from Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS). MUIS is the highest Islamic authority in Singapore & the only authorised body to issue halal certificates.

3.0 HAZARD ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL CONTROL POINTS (HACCP)

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a process control system designed to identify and prevent microbial and other hazards in food production. It includes steps designed to prevent problems before they occur and to correct deviations as soon as they are detected. Such preventive control systems with documentation and verification are widely recognized by scientific authorities and international organizations as the most effective approach available for producing safe food.

3.1 The Seven HACCP Principles

Principle #1 Hazard Analysis

The application of this principle involves listing the steps in the process and identifying where significant hazards are likely to Occur. The HACCP team will focus on hazards that can be prevented, eliminated or controlled by the HACCP plan. A justification for including or excluding the hazard is reported and possible control measures are identified.

Vitagen is supplied almost all over the country in Malaysia and Singapore, so it is very essential to remain the quality of the Vitagen. By providing a lorry storage with the temperature of 0˚C, the quality of the Vitagen could be remained.

As the product supplied, the factory will ensure that the customer did not take the expired product of Vitagen by taking them back to the factory to be destroyed after three days before the product expired. This could avoid the consumers from getting sick of diarhea and etc.

The Vitagen needed to be storage under 4˚C so that it can stand for at least six weeks. Vitagen can be left in room temperature not more than three hours due to inhibit the reactivity of bacteria, so it is safe to keep the Vitagen in refrigerator.

This product is safe to be consumed by pregnant woman, children, asthma patient and so on. Briefly, everyone regardless of age can enjoy the benfits of drinking Vitagen. It is healthy drink for the whole family.

Principle #2 Identify Critical Control Points

A critical control point (CCP) is a point, step or procedure at which control can be applied and a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels. The HACCP team will use a CCP decision tree to help identify the critical control points in the process. A critical control point may control more that one food safety hazard or in some cases more than one CCP is needed to control a single hazard. The number of CCP's needed depends on the processing steps and the control needed to assure food safety.

As for vitagen process :

Reconstitute Skim Milk Resin

Pasteurized Molding and Blown into bottle

Cooled Bottle Storage Tank

Fermentation 2-days Unscramble

Chilled Sterilized

Homogenization Printed

Mixing Filling + Capping

Storage Tank Packing

Principle #3 Establish Critical Limits

A critical limit (CL) is the maximum and/or minimum value to which a biological, chemical, or physical parameter must be controlled at a CCP to prevent, eliminate, or reduce to an acceptable level the occurrence of a food safety hazard. The critical limit is usually a measure such as time, temperature, water activity (Aw), pH, weight, or some other measure that is based on scientific literature and/or regulatory standards.

Vitagen could stand around 6 weeks after being produced. The Vitagen that had been supplied to the supermarket will be collected 3 or 4 days before the expiry date. Those workers have a schedule so that they will not miss the date.

Inoculation with Cultures

Stabilizer

Added with fruit juice

The pH of the Vitagen is 4 and it can be consumed by gastric patient.

Normal volume for the Vitagen per bottle is 125ml. If the volume is not enough after the sealing, the vitagen will automatically rejected from the processing line. However, the bottle will be recycled.

Principle #4 Monitor the CCP's

The HACCP team will describe monitoring procedures for the measurement of the critical limit at each critical control point. Monitoring procedures should describe how the measurement will be taken, when the measurement is taken, who is responsible for the measurement and how frequently the measurement is taken during production.

A specialized Quality Control unit keeps a daily check on products through regular testing at every stage of manufacturing to ensure conformity with the highest international standard. So in the making of Vitagen, it has to undergo four quality control process which are:

1. Microbiological Tests

2. The Chemical Composition

3. Physical Characteristics

4. Organoleptic Evaluation

Principle #5 Establish Corrective Action

Corrective actions are the procedures that are followed when a deviation in a critical limit occurs. The HACCP team will identify the steps that will be taken to prevent potentially hazardous food from entering the food chain and the steps that are needed to correct the process. This usually includes identification of the problems and the steps taken to assure that the problem will not occur again.

The following subjects are part of the corrective actions:

The process has to be adapted, in a way that the critical process and product parameters comply with the critical limits as soon as possible.

Products or batches that deviate need to be blocked and identified in such a way. When necessary, the delivered parties need to be recalled.

Blocked batches have to be unblocked. Depending on the seriousness of the situation, this can lead to:

- recovery of the product (rework, follow-up treatment)

- destruction of the product/batch.

Principle #6 Record keeping

Those activities, other than monitoring, that determine the validity of the HACCP plan and that the system is operating according to the plan. The HACCP team may identify activities such as auditing of CCP's, record review, prior shipment review, instrument calibration and product testing as part of the verification activities.

Halal inspection will conduct every 6 month by authorized department to ensure the product’s ingredient still fulfill the requirement needed.

Principle #7 Verification

A key component of the HACCP plan is recording information that can be used to prove that the a food was produced safely. The records also need to include information about the HACCP plan. Record should include information on the HACCP Team, product description, flow diagrams, the hazard analysis, the CCP's identified, Critical Limits, Monitoring System, Corrective Actions, Recordkeeping Procedures, and Verification Procedures.

Verification is one of the core assurance activities. It means a check if the requirements on the technology-dependent and managerial activities are met in practice. Core aspects of verification are: verification of people related performance, verification of equipment and methods related performance.

Vitagen’s research and development laboratory is staffed by the finest technical personnel who are constantly in pursuit of innovative new products. They also research into the use of new equipment and technologies as well as productive new manufacturing processes in order to improve the efficiency of our plant and the quality of our manufactured products.

4.0 How to determine Vitagen achieves the HACCP standard requirements?

i. Man

Workers : From our observation, most of the man power in Vitagen are Malaysian and foreign workers. The workers have to wear the standard outfit that had been complimented for all workers which shoes, cap and also gloves.

ii. Materials

Vitagen is made with wholsome milk added with real fruit juices except LB variant

Contains billions of world-class bacteria from Chr. Hansen’s Laboratories, Denmark

It has no preservatives

Marine collagen peptides

Vitamin C

Dietary fibre

iii. Method

iv. Machine

Pasteurized

Chilled

Reconstitute Skim Milk

Fermentation-2 days

Storage Tank

Mixing

Homogenization

Cooled

Resin

Molding and Blown into Bottle

Bottle Storage Tank

Unscramble

Sterilized

Printed

Filling + Capping

Packing

Inoculation with Cultures

Added with Fruit

Juice

Stabilizer

Incubating

Chilling Process

Homogenization

5.0 CONCLUSION

A healthy life comes from a healthy digestive system. Vitagen helps keep the digestive

system healthy and strengthens immune system of human body. Every bottle of Vitagen contains

billions of good bacteria called ‘Lactobacillus acidophilus’ & ‘Lactobacillus casei’ that help our

body suppress the growth of harmful bacteria to promote good digestion and therefore stimulates

a strong immune system. The bacteria in a healthy colon should ideally be at least 85% good

bacteria and not more than 15% harmful bacteria. However, a typical colon bacteria count in our

society shows only 15% good bacteria and 85% harmful bacteria. Therefore, drinking Vitagen

replenished the number of good bacteria. When lactobacillus combines with the good bacteria in

our body, they multiply in numbers and become plentiful and flourish. As a result, the

environmenr in the colonic flora becomes unsuitable for harmful bacteria to grow.

Furthermore, Vitagen is certificated by ISO 22000, HACCP and HALAL certification. So it is safe to be consumed by human.

6.0 REFERENCES

Retrieved on 17th December 2011 from

http://www.mmsb.com.my/quality_my.html

Retrieved on 17th December 2011 from

http://foodsafety.unl.edu/haccp/start/7principles.html

Peter S. Murano (2003). Understanding Food Science and Technology. United States of

America. Thomson Wadsworth. (Page 320-322).