culture

It is not easy to present valuable research findings conducive to the development of the country and the improvement of the people’s living standards.

However, it does not mean that only specific persons can do so.

Last year, Ju Yon Hui, a workteam leader of the Ryongsong Meat Processing Factory, developed a functional food good for health promotion with endless speculation and tireless efforts, getting an academic degree at the age of 52.

Her colleagues congratulated her and asked her how she could get the degree at such an advanced age. “Everyone can obtain a degree by dint of determination and sustained efforts,” Ju answered.

Her invention was red malt yogurt.

It was two years ago when she came to know better about red malt.

At that time she visited the microbiology institute of the State Academy of Sciences in hope of getting a good bacterial strain for improving the quality of yogurt. She paid attention to the fact that red malt is an antiseptic and has remarkable effects in lowering blood pressure and that some countries are developing functional foods using red malt.

She could hardly sleep that night at the thought of adding red malt to yogurt.

The following day, she called on a lecturer of Ryongsong College of Foodstuff Industry for consultation.

The lecturer specializing in fermentology readily supported her idea.

After a day’s work every day, she was engrossed in a study for applying red malt to yogurt production. She did lots of experiments and analyses to find out rational mixing ratio of red malt, features revealed in the process of lactic acid fermentation and changes in acidity and pH value according to fermentation time.

“At that time, lecturers of Ryongsong College of Foodstuff Industry gave me much help. During the research, I keenly realized how laborious the scientific work is and I could broaden my horizons as well,” she said.

Finally, she succeeded in developing red malt yogurt with larger contents of protein, glucide, fat and reducing sugar than the previous yogurt and with excellent colour, flavour and composition.

The new product is a functional food effective in promoting metabolism, digestion and secretion, inhibiting cholesterol synthesis and preventing hypertensive diseases.

Shortly ago, Ju newly developed sour milk cream good for health. She is now exerting herself to make dairy products more diverse.