Page 163 - EBOOK_Jamu: The Ancient Indonesian Art of Herbal Healing

tablets or packaged in powder form. Demand determines the

quantity produced and in what form. Adjusting the format is easy
because basic formulæ for each product type are the same.

Quality Control of Finished Product

The jamu industry is plagued by accusations concerning its lack of hygiene and
efficient quality control techniques. In some cases this criticism may be justified,
but all the major firms respect this aspect of production and are fully aware that
mistakes could have dire consequences in terms of patient health and their own
credibility.
The Quality Control Department at Martina Berto, for instance, has its own
operational procedure for inspecting all incoming and outgoing goods according
to standards set by the Research and Development Department. The former is
responsible for validating production machinery, instruments and equipment, and
checking micro-organism levels in the product. Its brief includes monitoring
hygiene during production and setting procedures for sanitizing equipment and

processing areas.
In such factories, high standards of quality and uniformity are achieved by
standard checking systems built into the production flow, which snap into action
when random testing is carried out on the finished product to check the
microbial count and level of pathogenic micro-organisms. If results exceed the
allowed amount, the product is either reprocessed or rejected. Quality controllers
carry out an identification check on each delivery of raw materials by eye and
under the microscope.

The Research and Development Department has also set standards for every
raw material. In technical terms this involves macroscopic, morphologic and
microscopic analysis as well as checking ash content or aqueous and alcoholic
extract content. Having developed a product, the Research and Development
Department is responsible for supervising its manufacture until the production
team is satisfied they no longer need this backup. Even so, the Research and
Development Department is on hand to iron out any manufacturing problems
that may arise in the future. These are very different from the analyses required
for chemical drugs, but at present there is no requirement to pinpoint the active
ingredients in raw materials. Furthermore, the complexity and large number of

active substances in plants mean the majority of properties have not yet been
identified.

Maintaining Quality Outside the Factory