IPB Researcher Changed Banana Skin To Edible Film

Banana was a horticultural crop which could grow well in Indonesia, because of the climate and the soil suitable for its growth. Not only that, the banana was also one of the fruit containing good nutrients. 

Utilization of banana skin at this time in addition to being fodder, had yet to be well managed. The reason was, the banana skin was the result of industrial waste processing which was not worth the economic and environmentally friendly.  

However, the banana skin waste by the researchers of Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Bogor Agricultural University (Fateta IPB), i.e. Muhammad Sudirman Akili and Usman Ahmad from Department of Mechanical Engineering and Biosystem (TMB), and Nugraha Edhi Suyatma from Department of Food Science and Technology (ITP), the banana skin was made into edible film or edible packaging.

The research conducted in July 2011-January 2012 in Laboratory of ITP and Laboratory of Energy and Electrification Department of TMB Fateta IPB, entered in Jurnal Keteknikan Pertanian. Presented in the journal, the banana skill contained the pectin compound. The fact that the pectin had good gel properties so it could be used to make edible packaging. 

This reserch was conducted for extracting and characterizing the pectin and the banana skin to make the edible film, with the addition of glycerol to provide the plastic and elastic properties. The characteristics of edible film in this research were color, thickness, elongation, tensile strength and water vapor transmission rate. This research used completely randomized design.