UPH Food Explore 10: Food Processing and Quality Enhancement

Head of UPH Food Explore 10, Reinald Febryanto Pengalila (left), Vice President for Finance and Administration, Hana Herawati (third-right), Dean of Faculty of Science and Technology, Eric Jobiliong, Ph.D. (second-right), Head of Department of Food Technology, Ir. W. Donald R. Pokatong, M.Sc., Ph.D. (right) at the opening ceremony of  Food Explore 10 on Wednesday, 1 November 2017 at building D502 University of Pelita Harapan. (Meishiana Tirtana/UPH Media Relations)

When you are buying groceries, you will pick the freshest fruits and vegetables from the stalls. Behind the stalls, most producers will use the edible coating process that can extend a fruit or vegetable's shelf life as much as five times. In contrast, people around still believe that edible coating is a process of using wax and plastic to coat the foods while the fact is that it is made of safe ingredients such as cellulose which act as antimicrobial. 
The issues of food processing becomes the background for University of Pelita Harapan (UPH) Food Technology program in holding Food Explore 10 that was held on Wednesday, 1 November 2017 to Friday, 3 November 2017 in UPH. 
The theme of Food Explore 10 is "Food Processing and Quality Enhancement" which aims to educate the public about the proper and safe way of food processing and shares the information about the enhancement of food quality in order to create a better perception about food processing.

Food testing in the "Rumah Inovasi" (Meishiana Tirtana/UPH Media Relations)

The event has two openings, indoor and outdoor. The indoor opening was held in building D502 with a formal procedure as the dean, lecturers and staffs were invited. Second is the opening of "Rumah Inovasi" (House of Innovation) where 19 students present their food innovation and the public can have the taste of them for free. On the same day, there were competitions such as food technology debate and "Inovasi Bersyarat" for university students and Food and Science Competition for high school students. 
"This year theme which is 'Food Processing and Quality Enhancement' is suitable to give out information about the safety of food processing to the public and create a mindset that nowadays food processing is not dangerous for our health," the Head of Department of Food Technology, Ir. W. Donald R. Pokatong, M.Sc., Ph.D. said. 

Winner of National Foodpreneur Competiton with judges, Dr. Ing Azis Boing Sitanggang, Lecturer dan Researcher  of Bogor Agricultural University (left),  Dr. Lani Soegiarto, Head of Scientific Development & Quality of PT. Ultra Prima Abadi (second-left) and Frebriansyah Hermawan, Account Director of Ogilvy One (right)
 (Meishiana Tirtana/UPH Media Relations)

On 2 November, National Foodpreneur Competition (NFC) is held at Mission Youth of Christ (MYC) UPH and this competition aims to build and find the potential from university students in food and entrepreneur (Foodpreneur). Other than participants from UPH, there are Unika Atmajaya Jakarta, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Unika Soegijapranata Semarang and Unika Widya Mandala Surabaya that send their representatives. Within the theme, participants were challenged to create a new innovation of food product which use several combination of ingredients. The participant also needs to present their business plan about how to sell their products to the market. 
After the judging process, judges have decided on the top three participants. Team from Unika Widya Mandala Surabaya manage to be on the third position with their product 'Peko Peko Panacota' which made up of red rice and the extract of sappan wood. Second position is 'Galarice Cracker' from Unika Soegijapranata Semarang which is crackers with galangal root powder as the base ingredient. Team University of Muhammadiyah Malang reached the first position with their 'Sinaga' Snack Churros using dragon fruits as their main ingredient. 
"This event is suitable for us a Food Technology students, as it is a mix of scientific and business competition. I hope that in the future, food scientists do not only work in the laboratory, but also business sector", the first position Adhim said. 

First session of talk show with Head of Association of Food Technology Scientist, Prof. Dr. Ir. Rindit Pambayun, M.P.  and Head of Indonesian Nutrition Association, Prof. Hardinsyah, M.S., Ph.D (Naomi Nerisha/UPH FoodTech)

With the tagline "Increasing Food Quality Through a Sound and Credible Processing for a Healthy Life", Food Explore 10 conducted a talk show themed "Assessing the Impact of Food Processing and Quality Enhancement to Change Consumer's Perspective" on the last day of the event at building D502. This seminar aims to develop the public knowledge about proper food processing based. Four guest speakers were invited in the talk show, Prof. Dr. Ir. Rindit Pambayun, M.P. (Head of Association of Food Technology Scientist), Prof. Hardinsyah, M.S., Ph.D (Head of Indonesian Nutrition Association), Dr. Yudi Pranoto, S.T.P., M.P. (Vice Dean of Food Technology University of Gadjah Mada) and Candido III Biel, B.S. IM Eng. (Plant Manager of PT. Bali Maya Permai Food Canning Industry). Food Explore 10 ended with the closing event at building D. 
"UPH Food Explore 10 has been an amazing event! This is all because of the hard work of the committees for the last eight months. This event also receive good feedback and I am proud of it. Hopefully the next Food Explore can be better", the member of sponsorship division , Naomi Nerisha said.  

Naomi Nerisha (left)

SHELLEY VALENCIA 00000013284