IPB Students Create ‘Bone Chips’: Chicken Bone Crackers Rich in Calcium

IPB University students team created an innovation in calcium-rich chicken bone cracker for Students Creativity Program in Entrepreneruship (PKM-K). The team consists of Reyna Nadhya Ulhaq, Bella Safira, Aminah Salimah, Rahmatika Arsyita, and Anjas Aji Prayoga. The innovation is named ‘Bone Chips’ with the tagline ‘Calcium-rich Chicken Bone Cracker’.

The idea of this innovation has been discussed since 2018. The idea is driven by the rising consumption of boneless chicken or chicken fillet and satay vendors who produce waste in the form of chicken bone. For the time being, chicken bone hasn’t been optimally utilized. A small portion of chicken bone waste is only used as catfish feed, while the rest is thrown away.

Chicken bone contains protein as much as 21.22 percent and calcium as much as 1.69 percent. The protein and calcium content in chicken bone can be categorized as high, so we may say that chicken bone is good for our body if consumed. Moreover, osteoporosis is quite prevalent in Indonesia, and as we know one of the causes of osteoporosis is lack of calcium intake.

Besides the said fact, the creation of Bone Chips also comes from the fact that Indonesians have the habit of snacking. The high consumption of snacks drives the emergence of various snack industry. The snacks produced vary. However, it’s not uncommon that we find irresponsible companies.

Companies sometimes produce snacks that are not good for consumers. Those snacks include those who use preservatives, food dyes, sweeteners, and unhealthy main or additional ingredients. From that issue, Bone Chips team created a snack rich in calcium based on zero waste principal.

Currently, the team obtains bone chips from satay vendors. Next, the team plans to partner with boneless chicken producers to ensure the availability of the main ingredient. “We use hygienic main ingredient, which are chicken bones, softened (presto) and crushed bones so that they become fine before molded and fried. The production process is also hygienic and can guarantee that the crackers are safe to consume,” said Aminah, one of Bone Chips team members.

What unique is that the production process done by Bone Chips team makes the Bone Chips have crispy texture, unlike chicken bones in general. The other unique characteristic is on the taste. The high bone proportion to the crackers’ dough leads into strong flavor of bone meat in the crackers. “The taste is savory, just like eating an actual bone, but crispy,” said Wuri, one of the consumers.

Currently, Bone Chips have been sold commercially. The price is Rp 15.000 per 100 grams. Bone Chips is available in various flavors. The team is trying to get halal certification, quality improvement and market expansion so that Bone Chips can be enjoyed by a wider scope of society.

The team hopes that Bone Chips would be a continuing business and become a snack of choice that is healthy so that people are safe in consuming snacks. Besides that, the creation of Bone Chips also aims to reduce chicken bones as by-product so that they can be utilized more. In the long term, Bone Chips will aim the business to be a sociopreneurship, which involve people struggling with their economy in their business processes. (Ard)