As I was doing research on our upcoming Taiwan trip, I found that there are quite a number of educational factory tours in Taiwan. Out of curiosity, I searched for factory tours in Singapore, and found one factory that offers factory tour - Yakult Singapore! It was timely that my nice mummy friend from
Evespiration organised the factory tour for a group of us!
When we entered the factory building, we were welcomed by the showcase of Yakult packaging from different countries.
And a panel with information about Yakult.
We went up to a classroom located at level 2. The children were thrilled to see bottles of Yakult on the tables! The bottle of Yakult seemed to taste better, not just because it was fresh, it was also free! (That was the joke made by the staff!)
The staff gave us a presentation on the background of the company and the products. One thing I like about the presentation was that the staff would present based on the type of audience. Our group consisted of mainly preschoolers, so he used the presentation slides that were designed for preschoolers, and showed us an animated video. For students and adults, they have other sets of presentation slides and scientific documentary video.
As the staff was presenting, I was hearted to see that Pei Pei was taking down notes!
We also had an opportunity to see how the Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (the beneficial bacteria in Yakult) looked like under the microscope. They are the small dots, not the big belly-button-look-alike-particle (milk molecule) at the bottom.
The children also learnt about digestive system during the presentation. Pei Pei was trying to put back the small intestine that she pulled out.
Do you know how unsweetened Yakult taste like? The staff actually suggested that a parent share a small cup with a child. Pei Pei finished the small cup with a big smile, while Hao Hao passed me his small cup, I got to taste the unsweetened Yakult plus his saliva. Then I understood the staff's suggestion - it tasted sour like plain yogurt!
After the presentation, the staff brought us to take a look at various parts of the manufacturing plant through glass-walled viewing gallery. We were informed that photography is not allowed, so that explains the lack of photos of the manufacturing processes in this blog post. Anyway, there is an animation of the manufacturing processes at
Yakult's website. I find the animation in the website useful in explaining the processes to the children.
It was amazing to see the big tanks for manufacturing of Yakult. It was also interesting to see how the bottles were moulded and transported upwards through a big pipe. The children were delighted to see bottles of Yakult on the conveyor belt in the packaging station.
At the end of the factory guided tour, we bought some Yakult and Yakult Ace Light® at a discounted price (SGD2.70 and SGD3.50 respectively, as of September 2015)!
Fun facts we learnt from this learning journey:
- Our small intestine is 6-7 metres long!
- There are 10 billions (10,000,000,000) good bacteria in a bottle of 100 ml Yakult. (How I wish that number appears on my bank account!)
- Singapore is the only country that Yakult produces 4 flavours - original, green apple, grape, and orange. Other countries only have original flavour.
- Yakult bottles are bigger in Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, as compared to other counties.
- The best time to consume Yakult is after meal, not before meal.
Information about Yakult Factory Tour
Tours are conducted on Mondays to Fridays
Morning session: 10 a.m. - 11.30 a.m.
Afternoon session: 2 p.m. - 3.30 p.m.
Capacity: minimum 25 participants, up to 60 per session
Admission: Free! And you get one free bottle of Yakult! (But you need to pay for the Yakult that you purchase at the end of the tour!)
How to sign up?
Step 1:
Form a group of minimum 25 participants, maximum is 60 per session. So you may invite your friends or relatives, or may propose to your child's school
Step 2:
Contact Yakult at +65 6756 1033 ext 313/314
Things to note
- Yakult factory tour programme will be temporarily suspended on January 2016 until further notice due to plant upgrading, so if you are interested, do sign up soon!
- No photography is allowed during the tour around the manufacturing plant. It is a nice reminder for myself to savour the learning moment with my children, instead of busy taking photos.
- The glass-walled viewing gallery is quite narrow, and visitors have to walk from level 2 to level 1 down the staircase, so it is not advisable to bring along a stroller.
- There is no minimum age stated in the website, personally, I feel that children at 5 years old and above would be able to appreciate this programme better.
Yakult Singapore
Address: 7 Senoko Avenue Singapore 758300
Website:
https://yakult.com.sg
Contact no. for factory tour:
+65 6756 1033 ext 313/314
How to get there:
Bus - take 856, 981, alight at Before / After Senoko Way (depending on which direction you are coming from)
Parking - free parking in the factory premises, but there are limited slots.
p.s. If you know of any other educational factory tour in Singapore, please share with us!
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