IPB Students Won the First Winner for Creation of Food supplement to Overcome Malnutrition

Three students of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) created mothers' milk supplements for bayi usia dua tahun (Baduta two-year-old baby) in the National Scientific Writing Competition (LKTIN) on 6th Nutrition Expo, organized by Faculty of Public Health of University of Indonesia. It is the biggest annual event organized by the Department of Nutrition of FKM UI. The national event brought together seven teams from various universities in Indonesia, held at the end of 2016. The three students of IPB were  Imam Safii, Mardita Setia, and Nina Dwinova,  from Faculty of Human Ecology (FEMA IPB) and they won the first winner in the event.

Theme of the event was "Kreasi MP-ASI untuk Meningkatkan Status Gizi Baduta yang Terbuat dari Bahan Pangan Lokal MP-ASI = the Creation of Food supplement Made of Local Food Products to Improve the Nutrition Baduta Status", the team took the initiative to utilize sago and moong beans powders to make food supplement. Referring to the case study in Eastern part of Indonesia where malnourished infants are plenty, the IPB team created food supplements made from similar ingredients available from those areas. Sago is staple food which is easily available, combined with protein-rich moong beans, and uses red palm oil (RPO) which is rich in provitamin A. These three main ingredients are created into a kukis (pastries) product.

Nina Dwinova described how to make kukis by his team using cooking techniques in general. The smoothed ingredients are weighed according to the recipe, then they processed into dough, baked and packaged. Kukis with is high protein content and provitamin A is preferred because it is easy to be consumed by Baduta. In addition, the presentation of these products is also practical and can be stored for longer time.

Before bringing Kukis to the presentation in the final round, the IPB team undertook  four experiments, had taste testing by  semi-trained panelists.  "The biggest challenge lies in the formulation of kukis, how to serve safe, nutritious, and affordable food for MP-ASI," said Nina.

According to her, by joining the competition she and her team had also passed on information on nutritious ingredients that are not widely used as red palm oil which is one of palm oil products.(Wied)