Mass production of the cake was made possible by research conducted by a team at Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, headed by its principal research officer, Dr. Chua Hun Pin.

The researchers worked out how to prolong the shelf life of the cake over eight months.

Funded by the Sarawak Ministry of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development, Trade and Investment, the researchers introduced a technology of packaging pulut panggang in frozen form without the use of preservatives.

The assistant minister for industrial development, Julaihi Narawi, said the innovation could enable Sibu pulut panggang to be marketed not only in Sarawak but also in other countries in the Asean Economic Community in future.

“We need to strengthen the marketing of pulut panggang in Sarawak first to ensure the success of the product in other markets,” he told reporters after launching the Sibu Pulut Panggang Packaging Innovation here today.