Canned sardines is one pantry staple that can be found in any household in the Philippines.
Cheap yet filling, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that canned sardines play an important role in keeping families fed. And while the product can be found everywhere, the actual process is a labor-intensive endeavor that belies the product’s simplicity.
Mega Prime Foods, Inc. (MFPI), the company behind the Mega Sardines brand, recently inaugurated Senses of the Sea: The Mega Sardines Museum. The new museum is located at the new Mega Sardines canning factory located in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Through this project, the company hopes to show interested parties — students of all ages especially, how the entire process plays out, from catching, all the way to canning.
The 906 sqm museum features several themed sections which highlight the different aspects of the company’s operations. The tour starts with the Briefing Room where guests get to learn about the history of the company and its unique 12-hour catching-to-canning process.
From there, guests move to the Sardine Catching Room. This interactive space highlights the technologies the company uses when fishing and catching sardines, as well as its efforts towards marine conservation. Meanwhile, the Production Viewing Deck allows visitors to see the entire canning process from start to finish. From sorting, cleaning, and quality control, all the way to labelling and packaging for dispatch.
Going down to the ground floor, the Mega Fleet of Vessels section highlights the different ships the company uses for its catching operations. These start from small crafts that herd the sardine schools to enormous catcher and carrier boats that catch the fish and bring it back to the company’s processing plants.
The Sardines Canning Room allows visitors to try their hand on the canning procedure by putting plastic sardines inside the cans in the mock-up conveyors. Finally, The Seaside Market is a designated space for interactive activities such as workshops, huddles, seminars, and cooking demonstrations.
“Through this catching-to-canning experience tour, we will be able to effectively set forth our advocacy in becoming a government partner in educating the youth on the real-world experiences and knowledge about the food manufacturing industry. We believe that The Mega Sardines Museum offers experiential learning to students. Lessons of which can become a core memory that simply cannot be found in textbooks and theories,” MFPI CEO Michelle Tiu Lim-Chan said.
The museum also aims to stimulate economic growth in Batangas and the CALABARZON region as it gears up to become one of the newest tourist attractions in the province in the region. This is expected to stimulate the local economy by generating jobs and developing domestic enterprises.
“Seen to attract up to 5,000 guests per month, the tour is bound to boost the local tourism of Sto. Tomas and Batangas Province guests from educational and business institutions taking interest in the process of food production” Tiu Lim-Chan added.
