IPB Students Create an Instant Porridge from Sorghum and Millet as an Antidiabetic Meal
Three students of IPB University; Niswana Wafi Alfarda, Fadhilah Nur Azizah, and Vika Tresnadiana Herliana from the Department of Food Science and Technology (ITP), Faculty of Agricultural Technology and Engineering (FATETA) created an instant porridge from sorghum and millet as a functional food. This porridge is aimed to reduce the consumption of rice for people with diabetes mellitus (DM).
According to Niswana, diabetes mellitus has a pretty high prevalence in Indonesia with an increasing number every year. World Health Organization (WHO) in 2007 had said that the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in ASEAN especially Indonesia has raised drastically. About 90% of the total of 96 million cases is diabetes mellitus type II. Rice has high sugar content thus is not suitable for people with diabetes mellitus.
“Our instant porridge is named Seroja. Seroja is designed as a ready-to-eat food that is practical, instant, and healthy. As a functional instant food, Seroja can provide consumers an alternative of healthy products in the market,” she explained.
According to her, Seroja is capable of being an innovative product that will indirectly increase the selling power and quality value of millet and sorghum. Seroja is a primary product of instant porridge which has high nutritional value to improve the quality and quantity of food, and agricultural products as a step towards realizing Indonesian Sustainable Development Goal 2030 (SDGs).
Through this innovation, Niswana Wafi and her two friends came up in the 3rd Winner in the National Scientific Paper Competition in the University of Muhammadiyah Purwokerto.
“Alhamdulillah, it widens our knowledge and experience. The competition was also attended by the Minister of Education and Culture of Indonesia and also the CEO of PT Petro TNC International that gave an explanation about the condition of the energy problem in Indonesia and the world. We gained a lot of knowledge,” she said. Niswana hoped that her work can be realized and commercialized with funding.
