Fourteen members of the MCG Explorers Group had the opportunity to visit the PureCircle Malaysia Plant on Monday, February 9th 2015. The Plant is located in Negeri Sembilan, 45 minutes away from KLCC nearby the airport. PureCircle is dedicated to the production of stevia, a natural alternative sweetener, for the Food and Beverage Industry.
Our host, Mr. Chong Kam Chun, Regional Vice President – APAC, gave us a a very informative presentation, including the history of stevia and their company in Malaysia, the explanation of the whole production cycle, the nature of their business to business market and how the product is customized and advertised depending on the different regional markets.
We took a tour through the production plant in which we were shown the machinery and the daily processing of the stevia. How it arrives in Malaysia from China plants and continues its purification process here. We wore hairnets, shoe covers and lab coats during the tour to comply with food industry safety regulations.
The information received was vast as this product was new for many of us, we learned the role stevia plays in a well-balanced diet, how it affects our daily lives in food and beverages, how the safety of stevia is established and how it is enjoyed across the globe.
Through the morning we also had the pleasure of tasting many of the products that are flavored with stevia and were also able to give our opinions on what we tasted.
Thank you to PureCircle Malaysia for the warm welcome and for a delightful and informative morning. We all went home with a special goodie bag of stevia to taste at home.
After the visit we went to Aunty Ainis Café, in Nilai for lunch.
Submitted by Alejandra Barbosa and Edi Girata