The use of retort technology for ready-to-eat meals means value for money, writes Kerry-Ann Augustin
IN 1795, Napoleon Bonaparte announced that he would be offering a reward of a whopping 12,000 francs for an invention that could sustain his entire army during the war: The pint-size general was looking for a way his soldiers could keep large quantities of food for long durations without rotting away. Only a few years later, the prize was claimed by French confectioner and brewer Nicolas Appert, who invented canned food.
For centuries, even before Emperor Bonaparte and his men foraged through foreign lands with their bayonets and guns, food preservation was a basic necessity. Paper and cloth became the first sources of solutions. However, liquid and air could easily seep in, spoiling food at a very fast rate. By the 1800s and thanks to Bonaparte, metal cans became the go-to for armies, explorers, tradesmen, miners and basically anyone who needed to preserve food which could be easily carried around.
But canned food too, in a way, had its shelf life. Problems with food poisoning from rusty cans for instance, were loopholes which allowed for better, safer methods of preserving food, which included among them glass jars and plastic, which became food preservation staples in the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1970s, however, a new form of packaging that combined laminated flexible plastic and metal foils became the safest, easiest, lightest method of preserving food.
Just eight years after the Reynolds Metals Company won the Food Technology Industrial Achievement award for its invention in 1978, Brahim’s in Malaysia became the first food manufacturing company in Southeast Asia and third in the world to apply this stroke of genius to their line of food.
BETTER EACH DAY
Deep in the heart of Bangi among the cluster of industrial factories, lies Dewina Foods, the manufacturer of one of the country’s most recognisable brands, Brahim’s. There, over 200 staff, ranging from engineers to experts in food and technology sciences come together to formulate better methods to perfect the art of food preservation, a practice since the company was conceived in 1986.
Years of advancement in technology resulted in food preservation at the facility to become even more efficient — the plant now houses computer-based systems which produce everything from cooking sauces to different favoured paste, as well as their award-winning ready-to-eat rice meals.
But research and development to reach the standards that the food manufacturing giants have are at the core of the company — for years, the department has run scientific research on improving the quality of both the packaging and taste of the product. A huge part of their research also involves collaborations with the likes of the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) and the Ministry of Defence’s Science and Technology Research Institute (Stride).
KEEPING IT GOOD
Constant collaborations as well as in-depth research have resulted in something that bodies like the Malaysian army and environmental conservationist around the country have come to appreciate. “One pack of ready-to-eat rice can be consumed any time of the day, be it for breakfast, lunch or even dinner,” says Ruzita Mat Ali, director of research and development at Dewina Foods. “It’s an alternative to protein, carbohydrates, and good fat which the human body needs,” she adds, referring to soldiers who are stationed in remote areas as well as conservationists, researchers and guides who spend weeks, and sometimes months, in the dense jungles of the country.
Suhaili Mohamed, who spearheads the Nursery and Planting Division of NGO Landskap Malaysia, confides that the retort packaging has changed the course of their work. “It saves us a lot of time to have ready-to-eat meals as the cooking time is so much less,” she explains. As part of Brahim’s CSR efforts, the team at Landskap Malaysia, who run research, collect seedlings and replant trees, take packets of Brahim’s ready-to eat meals to sustain themselves deep in the jungles for days.
Elaborating, Ruzita shares that using a retort pouch means a reduction of up to 50 per cent in cooking time, in addition to retaining flavour and freshness as compared to the common tin cans.
The Malaysian Police Field Force was Brahim’s first customers in 1990. Today, the men and women in uniform have a pack of Brahim’s ready-to-eat meal in their backpacks as they defend our borders and endure harsh conditions to keep our nation safe. Makes you wonder how different the world would have been if Bonaparte had found retort packaging in 1795, doesn’t it?
POWER IN A PACK
**FACT FILE**
Retort foods are prepared in a few stages:
Stage 1: Food prepared will be cooked first according to formulation.
Stage 2: The cooked food will be placed inside a retort pouch.
Stage 3: The pouch will be hemmed and further heated at sterilisation temperature for a couple of minutes. This sterilisation process will eliminate bacteria in food and prevent it from damage.