INSIGHT CRIZ

Note: This is an awareness campaign initiated by PenangYouth.com and supported by YourFoodReview.com in spreading the information and educating consumer on extra cautiousness.

Although it was found almost a decade ago that some brands of soy sauce, together with its related products such as the oyster sauce, mushroom sauce, hoisin sauce and chicken marinade, which are mainly used in some Asian dishes, contained high level of cancer causing chemicals. Two such chemicals from a chemical group known as chloropropanols were found in the products. They are 3-MCPD (3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol or 3-chloro-1,2-propanediol) and 1,3-DCP (1,3-Dichloropropene or also known as Telone). Through painstaking tests carried out by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) over the past few months, it was found that some of the brands imported from Thailand, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, contained a higher level of the chemicals compared to the minimum of 0.02 mg per kg as set by the European Union (EU).

The presence of both the chemicals in soy sauce is avoidable if they are based on the traditional methods of fermenting the soy beans in salt and water with some culturing help from added micro organisms and yeasts. These fermented beans would then be pressed to extract the juice within which would eventually become raw soy sauce. The raw soy sauce would then go through pasteurization to eliminate any active micro organisms and yeasts through a certain high temperature, filtered, before being bottled to be sold on the market. The whole process would take months to years as only would this process produce the unique saltiness and sweetness from the soy sauce.

Somehow, some manufacturers are looking at making fast bucks by producing the soy sauce through a hydrolysed vegetable protein formula to accelerate the productions. The whole process might take up to 3 days, saving at least 99% of the time frame if they were to use the traditional culturing method. This might be the fastest and cheapest way to produce soy sauce but it might result in the existence of carcinogens, cancer causing agents, such as 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP. Although it was stressed by FSA that occasional consumers were unlikely to be harmed, but it would be health hazardous for those high intake consumers.

Of the samples taken in a survey of 100 soy sauce products sold off the shelves, at least 25% were found be positive for 3-MCPD and two thirds of these had traces of 1,3-DCP. 3-MCPD is an organic chemical compound which is carcinogenic and highly suspected to be genotoxic in humans, thus having male anti-fertility effects. 1,3-DCP on the other hand, is a colorless liquid with a sweet smell, usually used as a compound in a pesticide. A long exposure through contact or inhalation might result in skin irritations, nauseousness, headaches, breathing difficulties and more.

Do not get me wrong on other soy products other than those chemically processed ones. They are in fact great for health such as substituting protein from meat. Soy beans are believed to contain certain anti-cancer properties against the most common types of cancer such as lung, rectal, colon, stomach, prostate and breast. To have a better health, do try to stay away from any processed products if possible. On top of soy sauce, by products such as instant noodles, salted eggs, salted vegetables, canned meats, canned desserts and more, would contain certain chemicals within its preservatives that would do more harm than good to your body. Try to apply more fresh or organic items in your marinate and cooking. After all, you are what you eat and you can’t run away from all the unwanted substances that you had put into your body.

Read more:
English: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-55023/Cancer-causing-chemicals-soy-sauce.html
Chinese: http://www.yzwb.net/news/ms/201108/t20110810_823711.html

Without the endless support from your customers, you won’t be making such a remarkable profit for your company right now. In short, those valued clientele of yours are the pillars of your company’s success. It’s time to show your appreciation towards them by awarding them with some personalized gift items. It could be just anything from eco-friendly products, office products, branded products, motivational and recognition products such frames or motivational tools.

With so many types of products available, you should think out of the box and decide on the most creative and personalized corporate gifts to reward your clients. A good suggestion would be the amsterdamprinting promotional pens with the option to imprint your company name and slogan on them. Who would not be impressed by such a personalized business gift?

Alternatively, you could also kill two birds with one stone by utilizing such corporate gifts as marketing items to promote your company further. One great choice would be the eco-friendly tumblers. Whenever the product is brought out in the open, it’s already a free publicity for you. This would definitely be a great marketing strategy for your company as well as a great gesture to win the continuous support from your customers.

Yesterday marked another great journey for CSL as it launched its second 3S Care Center and Northern Hub (First one was at Plaza Low Yat, Kuala Lumpur) in Megamall, Seberang Prai, Penang. The launching was in line with the company’s mission to have a flagship service center cum branch office to cater to the needs of its customer for the Northern region, ie, Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak. The 3S represents After Sales Services, Technical Support and Mobility Solutions – in short SERVICE, SUPPORT and SOLUTIONS. The opening ceremony was graced by Dato’ Dr Eric Chuah (CSL Group Managing Director), Mr Edwin Gan (CSL Country Manager) and 17 Master Key Distributors from all over Malaysia. Based on Dato’ Dr Eric Chuah’s opening speech, it was known that CSL has been advising Malaysians to go through the Switching Era together by converting their Mobile to Mobile Internet, Single SIM to Dual SIM and also change their perception of Unaffordable Mobile to Affordable Mobile. After all, CSL is the pioneer mobile manufacturer in Malaysia, thus we should always support our local products. Even prior to the launching, hundreds of potential buyers have been queuing up to take advantage of the great discounts of RM100 to RM400 for the smart phones and switch series.

During the launching, we were introduced to the special edition of the CSL Swarovski series, a series of mobile meant for the ladies which had Swarovski Zirconia studded crystals. The main attraction was the BMI Calculator and Menstrual Calendar functions. The models included the Blueberry PRINCESS 9200 (RRP RM299), Blueberry SHE 9300 (RRM RM399), SOPHIE G16 (RM399) and EMMA DS900 (RM299).

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE SWAROVSKI SERIES:
• Dual SIM
• CSL Fun Club
• Sound Cube
• BB Messenger
• S. Push Mail
• Opera Mini
• Facebook / Twitter / Tagged / Skype
• Google Apps / Yahoo Apps / MSN Apps
• BMI Calculator / Menstrual Calendar
• 2.0 Megapixels Camera
• MP3 / MP4 Player / FM Radio
• Video & Sound Recorder
• MicroSD Card Expansion

SPECIFICATIONS:
• GSM 900 / 1800Mhz
• GPRS / WAP / MMS / EDGE
• Color: White

Blueberry PRINCESS 9200:
• Display: 2.4” TFT QVGA
• Size: 115 x 59.5 x 11.5 mm
• Weight: 94g
• Standby: up to 188 hours
• Talk Time: up to 454 min

Blueberry SHE 9300:
• Display: 2.4” TFT QVGA
• Size: 70 x 70 x 16.3 mm
• Weight: 110g
• Standby: up to 264 hours
• Talk Time: up to 353 min

SOPHIE G16:
• Display: 2.8” TFT QVGA (capacitive screen)
• Size: 102 x 55.5 x 13 mm
• Weight: 97g
• Standby: up to 145 hours
• Talk Time: up to 421 min

EMMA DS900:
• Display: 2.2” TFT QVGA
• Size: 114 x 48 x 12 mm
• Weight: 82g
• Standby: up to 248 hours
• Talk Time: up to 496 min

The other model of Dual SIM card mobile which we were briefed was the CSL Dual SIM MI350 also known as the SWITCH Dual (RM699).

• Size
114.8 x 62.8 x 14.7mm
• CPU
Qualcomm MSM7227-1 with DSDS BSP
• Network
GSM Quad bands: 850/900/1800/1900
• Data
SMS, MMS, Email
• Display
3.5“ HVGA(480 x 320)
• Memory
512MB NAND Flash/512MB DDR
• Camera
CMOS 5MP
• Battery
Li-ion 1500 mAH
• Expansion Slot
Micro SD
• Features
GPS/AGPS
Bluetooth, FM

The MI350 might not be the best smart phone in the market, but it certainly has a great responsive touch screen with great preloaded apps. At RM699, it definitely cheap and would just fulfill the basic needs of a new Android smart phone user. Compared to the MI410 (RM799) with has a larger touch screen (4.1” HVGA TFT LCD Capacitive Touch Screen Display) and running on Qualcomm 1Ghz Snapdragon, I still prefer the MI350 as it has dual SIM slots and more fine in design. You can read more of the MI350 review at my earlier post. For more information and future developments, you can check out CSL Malaysia’s official website for more updates.

We also had some social hours to mingle with the rest of the bloggers, researched on the functions of the top 5 models, video interviews with some of bloggers on their feedback on the phones and at the same time savor some of dishes from one of the prominent café s in Megamall – Life 1 Café.

We had Boxing Chicken (2pcs cut to 4pcs – RM6.80), Fried Fish Fillet (RM15.80), Chicken Nuggets (6pcs – RM4.80), Chicken Spaghetti Bolognese (RM11.80), Chicken Piccatta (if with rice – RM18.80) and fruit juice (Apple, Orange & Dragon Fruit – RM4.30). Somehow, the food did not impress me at all as most of the dishes were deep fried. Moreover, I was still recovering from my illness. To me, it was kind of salty for most dishes.

I have written late last month on the soft launch of the Spice CSL MI 350, also nicknamed as SWITCH Dual. With the physical mobile phone in hand now, I would be able to describe more on its user friendliness. It’s running on Android 2.2.2 platform, with 5MP camera and came with WiFi functionality. Mobile users can simultaneously utilize 2 SIM cards, meaning one line can be use for incoming, outgoing calls and SMS/MMS while the other can be used strictly for internet browsing. Each CSL MI 350 would come in a small hard box with the mobile phone, AC adapter, mini USB data cable, Li-ion 1500 mAH battery, headset with extra ear plugs, quick start guide booklet and warranty card.

Other than the specification given below, what else would expect from this promotional priced RM699 SWITCH Dual?

• Size
114.8 x 62.8 x 14.7mm
• CPU
Qualcomm MSM7227-1 with DSDS BSP
• Network
GSM Quad bands: 850/900/1800/1900
• Data
SMS, MMS, Email
• Display
3.5“ HVGA(480 x 320)
• Memory
512MB NAND Flash/512MB DDR
• Camera
CMOS 5MP
• Battery
Li-ion 1500 mAH
• Expansion Slot
Micro SD
• Features
GPS/AGPS
Bluetooth, FM

The Pros:

The built is rather solid with a metallic feel and the size is just right to be fitted into my palm. It has just the right weight compared to the heavier CSL MI 300. It came with a 4GB MicroSD and a 512MB RAM. Touch screen sensitivity is real good. You can barely feel any lags at all. In fact, you might need to slow down a bit on the over sensitivity. Streaming and searching of YouTube videos was quite smooth. The device is preloaded with a number of social apps such as Blueberry Messenger, Blueberry Store, Facebook, Google Talk, etc. You can easily download more free apps at the Android Market. Browsing the internet would not be a problem even without inserting any SIM card as the unit has a built in WiFi 802.11n. It worked well in my home based WiFi without any problem at all.

The Cons:

Although the built in camera is in 5MP with autofocus, the end result lacked the sharpness as would any other 5MP digital cameras and the colors differed a lot. This shot was taken within Dave’s Deli in Queensbay Mall with auto setting. The photo appeared in 36” x 27” in 72dpi. (Please click on the photo below for the actual size)

The battery life span is rather short even if put on hold without much internet browsing or Facebooking. A fully (100%) charged battery would last approximately 10 hours. Thus, it would be quite inconvenient to carry around the charger plus date cable. Moreover, a car charger was not provided in the package which made matters even worst if you are always traveling around in your vehicle. With a wider touch screen of 3.5” HVGA, visual is quite good but then the virtual keyboard is still a bit of problem for big fingers people like me. Keying in alpha numerical characters would surely need lots of patience. Tilting of the screen was limited to a few angles and apps but that was not much a major problem. I had JAVA installed as well as shockwave player installed from the market but it still won’t load any flash based website. I’m sure there should be a way as playing FLV files from YouTube was not a problem.

The Verdict:

The MI 350 might not be the best smart phone in the market, but it certainly has a great responsive touch screen with great preloaded apps. At RM699, it’s definitely cheap and would just fulfill the basic needs of a new Android smart phone user.

For more information and future developments, you can check out CSL Malaysia’s official website for more updates.

Spice CSL has once again proved itself in the telecommunication sector by establishing its brand name with yet another first product in Malaysia. With the release of the CSL MI 350, nicknamed as SWITCH Dual, the slim and executive looking mobile phone, would become the first Android phone of its kind in Malaysia with a switchable dual SIM card mode. One thing for sure, this model would also be available at an affordable price as always for everyone. Currently, they are planning to launch the product very soon on the market with a recommended retail price (RRP) of RM699. That would be a reasonable price too hard to resist for Android users compared to the other competing brands around.

CSL SWITCH Dual would simply the best Android phone available in town – Innovative, Prestigious & Affordable. Now you can switch between networks and browse the internet with ease by just a finger touch.

Here is the information that you would want to know about the CSL MI 350:

• Size
114.8 x 62.8 x 14.7mm
• CPU
Qualcomm MSM7227-1 with DSDS BSP
• Network
GSM Quad bands: 850/900/1800/1900
• Data
SMS, MMS, Email
• Display
3.5“ HVGA(480 x 320)
• Memory
512MB NAND Flash/512MB DDR
• Camera
CMOS 5MP
• Battery
Li-ion 1500 mAH
• Expansion Slot
Micro SD
• Features
GPS/AGPS
Bluetooth, FM

Compared to the previous model of CSL MI 300, this new model would be almost the same size, except that it would be thicker by about 2mm. With a wider touch screen now at 3.5” HVGA, I’m sure it would have a less cramped virtual keyboard for big fingers people like me. Well, I can’t comment much such as which version of the Android OS they will be having until I have the physical phone in my hands. I’ll write more on the user-friendliness of the model when I get my hand on one soon. At the mean time, you can check out CSL Malaysia’s official website for more updates.