FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES OUMH2203 ENGLISH FOR WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION

NAMA

MARIAH BT RANI
NO/ KAD PENGENALAN
730817-05-5044

NO KAD MATRIK 730817055044002

Semester September 2011 NO / TELEFON

06-4310271

ALAMAT E-MAIL mariahskda@gmail.com

PUSAT PEMBELAJARAN UNIVERSITI TERBUKA MALAYSIA CAWANGAN NEGERI SEMBILAN, SEREMBAN

Appreciation

Alhamdulillah thanks to the Almighty for His kindness to let me complete this task successfully. This is hoped to be able to educate our citizens to better prepare teacher education more challenging.

I take this opportunity to thank the lecturers OUM on guidance and encouragement throughout my making this task. Hopefully this work can provide us with more robust preparations to implement the teaching in the classroom.

Not forgetting also to those who cooperate when I make this work. Special thanks are also extended to the OUM to give us space to study and gain knowledge and strive to provide the best for us,

Finally, this product may benefit the teachers. Thank you.

LAMB WITH PECULIAR SMELL

PEREPARED BY : MARIAH BT RANI FROZEN DEPARTMENT STORE MANAGER

CONTENT

1.0 2.0

INTRODUCTION INFORMATION GATHERED 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lambs smell Color of the meat Close analyze on the surface.

3.0

The effect and consequences 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Drop on frozen lamb meets sell Sales drop on other frozen meat items Drop on sale at the other departments Lose of confident

4.0

Recommendations 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Temperature Quality and duration of lamb storage Humidity and moisture of lamb supply Changing supplier Other reasonable recommendations

5.0

Conclusion

1.0

INTRODUCTION

The report below is prepared in order to acknowledge and to inform the branch manager regarding a few complaints forwarded by the regular customers who often purchase frozen lambs and meats from the hypermarket. It is a great concern of the store department to report the incident to the branch manager regarding the matter. Most of the customers complaint was related to the peculiar smell they found in the frozen lamb that they purchased from our frozen department. The lambs were supplied by the Kanum Frozen Food Sdn. Bhd. The investigation committee of the Hypermarket has identified that the lambs were contaminated.

2.0

INFORMATION GATHERED 2.1 Lambs Smell After inspecting all the frozen lamb returned by the customers, the committee found that they smell peculiar. The frozen lambs were most likely to be rancid and bad, they were likely to be spoiled too. There were also mild amounts of odor identified on most of the lambs. After inspecting the lamb meats smell, the committee found that they were infected by bacteria which created the odors, and these odors become stronger over time. The meats also smell like ammonia and sulfur, this indicates significant bacteria were present on the meat.

2.2

Color of the Meat Under normal circumstances the color of meat is in the range of red and may

differ from dark red, bright red to slightly red; but also pink, grey and brown colors may occur. In many cases the color indicates the type and stage of the treatment to which the meat has been subjected, as well as the stage of freshness. After inspecting the frozen lambs delivered by the supplier and those returned by the costumers we found 5

that all those frozen lams were infected my odor and the color on most of it had turned into greenish and has fungus on them. 2.3 Close Analyze on the Surface. Lamb that is spoiled will often have a smooth or slimy texture resulting from bacteria growing on it. In addition, any visible signs of growth or mold (such as areas that are black, green or white) are unmistakable signs that the meat is spoilt. The inspection also shows such indications on the texture on those frozen lambs, apart from that they are dry and unpleasant too.

3.0

The Effect and Consequences 3.1 Sales Drop on Frozen Lamb Meets Sale

Sales drop on frozen lamb meat

160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Week 1 week 2 week 3

Series 1

After doing serious research and survey on the matter, the committee found that, the overall sale on frozen lamb has almost dropped 70% compared to the previous days sales in the hypermarket. During the normal days sale, the hypermarket will gain a total sale of 150 kilograms of frozen lamb per day, after the effect of the problem it has dropped to a total of only 45 kilograms per day. There were even days whereby there was not a single kilogram of frozen lamb sold on the particular day. The hypermarket considers this as a serious matter and it should be addressed as soon as possible to regain the frozen lambs sale and profit of the hypermarket.

3.2

Sales Drop on other Frozen Meat Items As an effect, the sales of other frozen meat items such as beef, pork, fish and

rabbit has also dropped after the problem had occurred. These were due to the influence of the peculiar small lamb item. The survey shows that most of the customers were afraid and had lost their confidence in buying other frozen items in the hypermarket. As a result, the sales of those frozen items have dropped very fast in the past few days.

3.3
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Drop on Sale at the other Departments

Grocery food & drink Others

week1

week 2

week 3

Sales in the hypermarket had dropped almost in every department due to the same problem caused by the frozen lamb case. As the biggest hypermarket in town and the various services and items that we sell, the hypermarket has always been main customers choice for many years. The investigation committee has identified that the incident has also influenced the customers for not to come to the hypermarket as their first choice. The sales in the grocery department had dropped almost 30%. Apart from that the sales in the food and drink department had also dropped 25% and in the other entire department had also dropped from the range of 5% to 15%.

3.4

Lost of Confidence The investigation and survey committee also had identified that the customers

had lost their confidence towards buying their goods from the hypermarket. The survey also shows that most of the customers were afraid to purchase their frozen and grocery items, especially from the hypermarket. The news had also spread in the town and to most of the nearest small towns and villages around the hypermarket. The hypermarket has been the main destination for their shopping. Since the problem had occurred, almost 50% of the customers had changed their options to various other hypermarkets which were nearer to their town.

4.0

Recommendations 4.1 Temperature Frozen meat requires particular temperature, humidity or moisture and ventilation conditions. A written cooling order must be obtained from the consignor before loading is begun. This order must always be complied with during the entire transport chain. Containers must be appropriately precooled prior to loading. They should be at a temperature of -18C. Frozen lamb meat should have a core temperature of -18C so that the activity of microorganisms comes to a standstill and enzymatic degradation processes are largely suppressed. Temperature measurements must be performed and recorded at regular intervals. The travel temperature must be maintained constantly as variations in temperature may result in recrystallization, resulting in growth of the ice crystals. Variations in temperature are associated with continual slight thawing and refreezing. Since small ice crystals have a higher vapor pressure than larger ones, they will melt more rapidly when the temperature rises, while on cooling the same effect means that the water is preferentially deposited as ice on the larger ice crystals. This consequently brings about growth of the ice crystals, as a result of which the rapidly frozen meat increasingly takes on the appearance of slowly frozen meat on storage. The large ice crystals rupture the cell walls, as a result of which, on thawing, cell fluids (drip) escape, giving rise to a distinct reduction in utility value.

It is essential to maintain the deep-freeze chain. Thawing damage occurs in the event of extended interruption of freezing, followed by warming and refreezing of the product. "Snow" forms within the plastic bags, especially around leaky container doors. A dark red to black coloration due to transient thawing processes is irreversible, the color change being retained on subsequent refreezing. Temperatures lower than specified are not generally harmful, but they should be maintained throughout all the transport operations as there is otherwise a risk of recrystallization.

4.2

Quality and Duration of Lamb Storage The frozen lamb meat must be properly deep frozen on loading. Meat which is

not at the required core temperature will spoil during a long voyage. Checks must accordingly be carried out during loading. Properly deep frozen lamb meat sounds like wood when struck. A wooden mallet may thus be used for performing many checks. The core temperature should be measured for each batch by drilling a hole into the middle of the piece of meat and measuring the temperature with a meat thermometer. Occasionally, lamb meat is supplied which, after freezing, has been exposed to higher temperatures. Such incorrect storage results in depreciation. Such interim thawing can be recognized by the protective coverings' having frozen onto the meat. Distortion of the pieces of meat and dark muscle tissue color are further indications of incorrect handling.

4.3

Humidity and moisture of the Lamb Supply Frozen meat requires particular temperature, humidity or moisture and

ventilation conditions higher relative humidity may be permitted for frozen goods because the low temperatures mean that microbial growth is no longer possible. Relative humidity in the container should be kept at 95% in order to prevent the surface of the meat from drying out. Sublimation proceeds constantly at the surface of frozen meat, i.e. the moisture bound in solid form passes directly into the gaseous state. This drying process is an unwanted change because the shrinkage in mass

impairs surface appearance. In extreme cases, surface drying may result in freezer burn an effect which may be counteracted by plastic film packaging. If moisture is observed on the meat, relative humidity should be maintained at 75% for short periods (mold growth threshold). Wet spots on transiently thawed frozen lamb meat may subsequently be recognized from the "tide mark" they leave on drying. Care should thus be taken especially during loading and unloading in rain, fog and snow as there is a risk of discoloration and distortion of the meat and of surface spoilage due to microorganism. 4.4 Changing the Supplier Managing the store department has always been the main priority of a manager, therefore, making sure the quality of frozen items supplied to the customers should be considered. The committee would like to recommend to the branch manager to change the supplier since the hypermarket has been in a great lost due to the incident. The investigation committee would also like to suggest to the branch manager to relocate a new supplier who could give a better assurance for the quality of the frozen lamb that they will supply.

4.5

Other Reasonable Recommendations The investigation committee would also like to give a few other advisable

recommendations to enhance the quality management of the frozen items supplied and to overcome other sales related problems at the Hypermarket to put a stop to the problem. It would be much reasonable to increase the number of quality assessment and assurance assistance at the frozen department of the hypermarket to monitor the quality of frozen item supplied and replaced for customers. It should be the regular duty of those nominated officers to observe and to keep a good track record of frozen items supplied and delivered to the hypermarket. The frozen department technicians to do a regular track record and checklist on the freezer where the frozen lambs are kept in the store and those were proceeded for sale.

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5.0

Conclusion It had been the great concern of the frozen store department to preserve and to supply good quality frozen items such as the frozen lambs to the customers. By enhancing the quality of the service, the investigation committee found that, the hypermarket could supply a better quality frozen lambs to the customers. As a result, the sales in the hypermarket will improve. Apart from that, the health of the customers should also be considered, by selling contaminated lambs and other frozen items, the hypermarket would have to bare the consequences of being charged in the court. This would have affected the popularity of the hypermarket. Therefore, the investigation committee would be in great favors if the branch manager could take a great concern about the matter and would implement those recommendations provided to improve the sales of the hypermarket and to gain back the confidence of the customers.

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REFERENCES

OUMH2203 English For Workplace Communication. Open University Malaysia 2010.

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/tipsandtechniques/a/lambstorage.htm

http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodstorage/a/lambstorage.htm

http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--513/lamb-handling-safety-storage.asp

http://www.helpwithcooking.com/food-storage/freezing-meat.html

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