KUCHING (Aug 26): The Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB) and Saraspice Sdn Bhd should make it a point to see hotels in the country serve locally-produced pepper at their restaurants, said Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin.

 

The Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister said once this becomes a norm in the hotel industry, MPB and Saraspice will be able to better promote Malaysian pepper products in the global market.

 

“Once Saraspice is stabilised, together with the pepper board, they should approach the hotels in the country, to make sure they (hotels) make use of our pepper to serve their dining tables.

 

“If we can do that in our country, we can sell (pepper) very well. With that, we can expand our global market,” she said at a press conference after re-launching Saraspice Sdn Bhd at the Icom Square here yesterday.

 

Zuraida said it is the duty of the board to ensure the country has enough supply of pepper berries.

 

She said the board is also empowered to diversify pepper products to come up with a variety of product lines to meet the demand.

 

“For now, we have ground pepper, white and black pepper. Later on, we shall have pepper-based products and increase our product lines. Otherwise we will be just selling pepper, which is not good enough.”

 

On Saraspice Sdn Bhd, she said this subsidiary company of the board was established in 2019.

 

She regretted that the company became stagnant due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years.

 

“Now we have re-launched Saraspice to give it a new outlook and positioning so that we can capitalise on Sarawak pepper to generate more income for the country,” she said.

 

Zuraida was pleased to note that Saraspice had secured orders worth RM13 million in six months from March this year.

 

She believed that Saraspice will be able to go full swing to do marketing and promote Sarawak pepper, both locally and internationally, by the end of this year.

 

According to her, Saraspice is set to open up branches throughout the country.

 

She called on potential operators to contact the company on plans to set up branches nationwide.

 

Source: https://www.theborneopost.com/2022/08/26/zuraida-suggests-hotels-serve-locally-produced-pepper-at-their-restaurants/?amp