Improving Food Quality with BReAD Unit
Approximately ten mothers, residents of Cibanteng, a village around the IPB campus, gathered around a professional baker at Baking Research and Development Unit (BReAD Unit). They seemed enthusiastic when practicing in making muffins from sweet potato.
BReAD Unit is a cooperation program of Southeast Asian Food and Agricultural Science and Technology (SEAFAST) Center of IPB and Department of Food Science and Technology IPB with PT. Indofood Sukses Makmur, Tbk, i.e. Bogasari Division of Flour Mills, which was launched at Darmaga Campus of IPB (30/11). IPB receives aids of equipment, experts and some of the funds for the renovation of existing facilities.
"In addition to providing knowledge and understanding of a good production for bakery products, improving the quality of food products in small and medium businesses and fostering the entrepreneurial spirit at an early age, especially for children of school age, BREAD Unit is also intended to develop local flour-based products," said Prof.Dr.Ir. Purwiyatno Hariyadi, Head of IPB Seafast Center.
According to him, local resources of flour in Indonesia are quite a lot, for example, cassava flour, potato starch, and flour from tubers and other grains. "IPB has a database of local resources that can be made as flour for ingredient," he said. Baking products actually only play with the dough. Thus, the composition of the flour can be adjusted. For example, in making the muffins, which is usually 100% using wheat flour, we can substitute it up to 50% with sweet potato flour.
Apart from sweet potato muffins, BReAD Unit also introduces sweet potato Brownies, Corn flakes cookies, Choco Chip, walur noodles, corn noodles, sweet potato bread, sweet potato flakes, cereals sorghum, corn rice, and others. The Unit is built as a training ground for students, communities of IPB and the surrounding communities to make bread and cakes. " The program developed by this BReAD Unit can be used as a vehicle for training and Edutourism for the students of kindergarten, elementary/junior/senior high schools, university students, small-medium scale businesses and the general public," said Prof. Purwiyatno.
Meanwhile, according to Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Dr. Sam Herodian, the this form of cooperation has been widely developed in America, in which the governments, universities and private sectors work together to create and utilize technology for the welfare of the community. (mtd)
