In this week, we had a visit to Yakult factory. This trip really widened my mind a lot. Before that, I just knew that Yakult is beneficial to us, but not really knowing the real benefits it brings. From the visit, especially from the explanation from the speaker and the booklet, I had gained a lot of information regarding the Lactobacillus casei shirota. For example, it can promote the growth of good bacteria and inhibit the growth of bad bacteria. Plus, it can ensure healthy skin growth too. Another thing that amazed me is the production process of Yakult. The whole production process is mainly conducted by machine, only the inspection and selection processes are done by manpower.
We had lecture on microbial growth on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is interesting to know the factors that are required for microbes to grow. For example, even some microbes like fungus can grow at low temperature, that's the reason why mould can still grow in refrigerator. Same thing that some microbes can grow in acidic or alkaline condition, because in such condition, the microbes can consume the food from surrounding. Another thing that I learnt is water activity, fungus that have low water activity will only need low amount of water to grow.
One interesting fact that I learnt is the watermelon snow that Dr. Wan mentioned. It is also called as snow algae, pink snow, red snow,, or blood snow. The microbe that causes such phenomenon is Chlamydomonas nivalis, which is a species of green algae. Compressing the snow with these microbes will make the snows look red. This is normally found in California. Such fact is really mind-opening to me.
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