Page 161 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

country, but beyond its borders. This has made business easier for some of her

smaller competitors, but essentially it has served to publicize the values of
traditional healing in places where it was formerly regarded with suspicion.

Current Production

Although jamu has been a popular dietary supplement in Indonesia for centuries,
especially in Java, times are changing. Young Indonesians are assimilating
Western ideas, which include eating convenience foods and taking Western
medicines. Many prefer these to drinking the original bitter brews that require
aromatic plants to disguise unpleasant smells or tastes. To try to make jamu more
palatable, manufacturers are working on both quantity of dose, and taste. The
usual dose for manufactured jamu is ten pills, three times a day. While each pill
is tiny, people balk at the quantity and given the choice between swallowing ten
pills or pellets, a capsule or tablet (one tablet is equal in size to six or seven
pills), they go for the easy option. Since these are made from concentrated herbal
extracts, a smaller dose achieves the same result.

The jamu industry is also changing as major players have their eye on
lucrative international markets. As part of Martina Berto’s export strategy the
company entered a nine-month assessment programme which led to ISO 9001
certification by the International Accreditation Association of England; it was
also awarded NACCB and ANSI-RAB in the United States, prestigious awards
for any company.
The company manufactures to a Standard System of Quality that is
continuously revised and improved. Each department involved in manufacturing

has introduced its own operations system and set procedures, which ensure
production is fully standardized. For instance, there are strict standards for each
raw material, formula, half-finished and finished products, as well as packaging
materials. The same applies to raw material cleaning procedures, processing
products and storage. Production may be summed up as follows: Preparation of
raw materials:
– Cleaning with water to wash off any remaining soil;
– Drying in an oven until they contain less than 10 per cent
humidity;
– Storing in a jamu warehouse: hygiene and air-conditioning are
important as they maintain the correct level of humidity.
Many raw materials have already reached this stage when they arrive at the
factories but some need to go through the preparation outlined above.