<B>A MIXTURE</B> of aromas : chilli, garlic, mango, lemon, vinegar and the strong lingering smell of curry powder. Hundreds of colourful jars and packets neatly stacked up in boxes and on shelves. We are in International Sarjua canning factory. Established in 1992, this firm produces a range of exotic food : curry powder, pickled vegetables and fruits, seafood pastes and condiments as well as chutneys. It has gradually expanded and has plants in Madagascar and Rodrigues. Apart from producing for the local market, it exports to countries such as Italy, France and Madagascar.

The raw materials - fruits, vegetables and spices ? come from Mauritius, Madagascar and Rodrigues. ?We find about 80% of our raw materials here, but some spices such as saffron are from Madagascar and lemons from Rodrigues, their native country,? explains the managing director, Danesswar Sarjua. He personally checks the quality of products when they are delivered.

At the back of the factory, the unloading area smells of fruit. ?We are drying a load of mangoes right now.? As he opens a big metal door of a drying cabinet, the smell of green mangoes escapes. Racks and racks of mango pieces are being dehydrated in hot, dry air. Inside the factory the workers are already processing the last batch of dried fruit.

One of them is in front of a big mixing machine. She pours the right quantity of each ingredient for the pickling into a wide metal bowl: mango, oil, chilli, salt, vinegar, turmeric, garlic, mustard and citric acid. Then she starts the machine. The arm, like a big spatula, mixes the paste. Whiffs of the spices used emanate from it and slowly the ingredients are uniformly mixed. Next, another worker loads the machine which packs the pickles into jars. A big funnel with a long tube at the end is filled with the paste. Once programmed it automatically fills the jars. An employee is sitting next to the funnel with a table full of jars. She methodically places one jar after another under the funnel until it is full. Then the jars are placed in a machine that seals them.

?We have recently started a new type of pickled fruit for diabetics,? says the managing director. ?We have replaced the vinegar and vegetable oil by olive oil.? Danesswar Sarjua seems an innovative person. Apart from his pickled fruit for diabetics, he also produces original and somewhat surprising jams such as carrot jam!

But International Sarjua Canning Ltd is above all famous for its curry powder. ?The recipe was created by 40 of our oldest workers and we have tried to keep the ancestral flavour traditionally obtained by crushing the ingredients on the ros cari.? The 12 ingredients: cloves, cardamom, cinammon, black pepper, aromatic leaves, fenugreek, turmeric, coriander, cumin, mustard, dholl and rice are ground in a different section of the factory. The powder is stored in big tubs which, when opened, let out the spicy curry smell.

At a long table in the left hand corner of the factory room, ten persons are packing the curry powder. They carefully spoon the brown powder into little silver packets, which are then passed onto another group of women who look after the airtight sealing and packing in paper boxes.

Danesswar Sarjua is proud of his achievement. ?The government is talking about non-sugar products now, when we have been doing it for 20 years. I encourage any incentive to diversify - whether it be from the public or private sector.?