FOOD TECHNOLOGY STUDENT IPB TEAM THE WINNER IN IFT DCDC COMPETITION, LAS VEGAS, US.
Congratulation!!!! The student team of Food Technology Study Program, Department of Food Science and Technology, FATETA-IPB successfully became the the runner-up in an international competition "Developing Solutions for Developing Countries" (DCDC) organized by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) on June 28, 2012 in Las Vegas United States. IFT is an international professional organization whose members include food science and technology experts as well as food industry and government practitioners around the world.
The IPB team (so-called Mangnut team) consisting of four undergraduate students (semester 6), i.e. Berlian Purnama Sari, Akhmad Fami Hikmatiyar, Brian Naranathan, and Erydhatirti Diah Pramesti. IPB team had been chosen as one of the finalists who were invited by the IFT to Las Vegas together with two other teams from Universiti Putra Malaysia (Vit-A-Go) and UB (Stift Oorrid Mango) to attend the final round. In addition to international team, there were three domestic finalist teams from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Mango Meal), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Test-mate), and Washington State University & University of Idaho (Maandazi). Selection of finalists was based on pre-selection of pre-proposal submitted by the student teams around the world, both undergraduate and graduate students. The jury consisted of six representatives of academia, goverment and industry practitioners in the US, i,e Sajid Alavi (Kansas State University), Joseph M Awika (Texas A & M University), Be
tty Bugusu (Purdue University), Luiz Fernadez (Vice President of Global Application, Tate & Lyle), and Thomas Nack (Senior Scientist General Mills).
In 2012, IFT challenged students on how to solve malnutrition in Kenya by leveraging the development of mango-based product, which is one of the important crops in Kenya. In this case the IPB team, headed by Berlian chose a theme "Mangnut (Mango-nuts): Local Based Healthy Snackbar for Children of Kenya". Mango-based snackbar was developed malnourished children in Kenya. Mangnut was made from the fermented mango and then formulated with peanuts, soybeans, butter and sugar, then was fomed into a snackbar (rod-shaped snack product) with the concept of "one portion sizing" by using an aluminum foil laminate panckaging. Mangnut contained macronutrient (carbohydrate, protein, fat) and mikronurien (vitamin A, vitamin C, iron).
During the presentations and discussion sessions, Mangnut was appreciated by the jury as "innovative and novel product" which was potentially to be developed in Kenya due to its nutrition, low cost production and investment, making mangnut be feasible to be produced by a small scale industry in Kenya.
For the international team category, IPB team won as the runner up. The first winner was a UPM team consisting of two doctoral student program and four master student program, whereas the third winner was UB team consiting of three undergraduate program. For the international team category, the winner was from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (first winner), Washington State University & University of Idaho (second winner), and the University of Massachusetts (third winner). Announcement of the winners was performed in the presence of more than 500 attendees in Las Vegas Hotel Ballroom A.
Dr. Feri Kusnandar (Head of the department of food science and technology, IPB) who accompanied IPB team to Las Vegas was proud of the team, and he hoped that this success will inspire other students to be able to demonstrate best achievement at international level. Financial support from IPB (Bogor Agricultural University), PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, PT Ajinomoto, PT Behn Meyer etc for the team to travel and present their paper in Las Vegas is strongly acknowledged.
