Whenever I drink fresh milk, sometimes I wonder if I could visit a farm, watching how cows getting milked, and how the milk ended up in the bottle. Well, after making a trip to the Cattle Research and Innovation Centre at Muadzam Shah, my questions are answered.

This field trip was arranged together with the help from the Industrial Biotechnology undergrads who enrolled in the course BSB3543 Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods. In this course, we discussed about the functionality and bioactivity of milk proteins and peptides, however most of the students including me had no clue of how the milk is processed.  We had 29 students from the BSB3543 course, and we even had 4 international exchange students (Ma Mingguang from China; Warunrat Prasitprom, Tanaporn Sriprang and Nutdanai Jeualaong from Thailand) joining us on the field trip.

Our group was fortunate to have Mr. Jacob, the Group Senior Farm Manager, as our industrial speaker and tour guide during the trip. We had a detail lecture on the role of biotechnology in the milk production, from gene selection in breeding cows until the quality control of milk products. Besides that, Mr. Jacob also introduced some functional milk products to us.

Mr. Jacob (standing), the Group Senior Farm Manager was giving lecture to the group.

The grass that is planted beside the farm area is fed to the cows daily based on a well-balanced formula to ensure optimum milk production.

A walking tour led by Mr. Jacob & team to witness the daily routine at the farm.

We learnt the centre is practicing sustainable farming, the waste materials from the cows are used in fertilizing the grassland which serves as a main staple for the cows. Besides that, the centre has the largest fresh milk processing centre in Pahang, this enables the fresh milk reaching to the shelves within 48 hours. We were given the opportunity to sample some of the company’s dairy products: UHT Kurma Milk, which is the company’s functional dairy product, and UHT Chocolate Milk, both are marketed under the brand ‘Farm Fresh’. Overall, the trip was informative and enjoyable. This trip helped students gaining better understanding in the role of biotechnology in the dairy industry. They are also made aware of the origin of the food and learn to appreciate the hard work and stringent quality checks applied in ensuring safe and quality assured products.

Left: Cows are milked twice everyday: 5 AM and 5 PM. Middle: Farm Fresh’s Kurma Milk which is a functional milk drink with date extract. Right: A yoghurt drink. Picture was taken in front of the milk processing plant. (Photos by Beh Yu Ling)

Group pictures with Industrial Biotechnology students from the course of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (BSB3543).