The Centre of Lipids Engineering and Applied Research (CLEAR), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) had signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Eco Bee Shop Sdn Bhd (Eco Bee) on 14th November 2017. Eco Bee is the first bee farmer that practices Mobile Bee Farming (Eco Bee Farm) in Malaysia. Eco Bee has its own bee farm, factory and retail outlets. The main objective of this MoA is to seal the agreement for the research project entitled ” Production of Propolis Extract from Stingless Bees using Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE)”. Eco Bee will provide RM 45,000 in the form of research grant for CLEAR to assist them undergo extensive research towards developing high quality and premium propolis products from local stingless bees (Kelulut). This will be the first local Malaysian propolis from stingless bees using green technology of SFE, which is clean, green and safe to be consumed. Growing number of consumers are choosing to pay for premium products that are natural or free from chemicals, the unique and advantages of SFE cannot be matched by conventional techniques, and thus meeting important consumers’ demand for “natural” ingredients. The ceremony was held at CLEAR meeting room with UTM was represented by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Azizi Che Yunus, Director of CLEAR and the Director of Eco Bee, Madam Cathie Tan.
