IKK Department IPB University and Disperdagin Bogor Regency Teach Thousands of Students to Choose School Snacks Wisely
In the midst of the increasingly widespread school snacks and the increasing possibility of the use of materials that endanger health such as formalin, borax, textile dyes and food additives, the Department of Trade and Industry (Disperdagin) of Bogor Regency in collaboration with the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (IKK) , Faculty of Human Ecology (Fema) IPB University conducted a Consumer Protection Socialization. This activity targeted 30 elementary and junior high schools in eight sub-districts in Bogor Regency. The eight districts were Cibinong, Bojong Gede, Citeureup, Ciawi, Megamendung, Cisarua, Cileungsi, and Kalapa Nunggal Subdistricts.
More than 10,000 students got educated on how to choose safe-to-consume snacks. The event was conducted from August 19th 2019 and is planned to continue until October 4th.
The Head of the Commercial Order Division, Bogor Regency’s Trade and Industry Office, Lundris, MPH said that snacks that were sold in the school environment were very diverse, but sometimes children just chose what they were interested in. Children did not know snacks that are good and bad for health. Lack of information about healthy snacks, making children as consumers very disadvantaged.
“We want to protect children, especially in Bogor Regency from dangerous snacks. For this reason, this activity is carried out to equip children with the ability to recognize dangerous snacks. In this case we hope that the schools themselves can carry out routine supervision to prevent undesirable things,” he said.
Furthermore, the Head of the Commercial Development Section, Rosmanidar said that this activity received appreciation from the Bogor District Parliament and Bappeda. She revealed that this socialization activity had been developing from year to year. In 2017, the socialization will only take place in two schools, whereas in 2018 there were six schools.
“During the meeting, we saw that this activity is good, but has little budget, so the representative board increased it. It results in the addition of coverage of 30 schools in Bogor Regency in 2019,” she said.
The educator on consumer protection socialization was entrusted to three experts in the field of education and consumer protection namely Dr. Megawati Simanjuntak, SP, MSi, Dr. Ir Lilik Noor Yuliati, MFSA and Dr. Irni Rahmayani Johan, SP, MM. The three of them came from the IKK Department, Fema IPB University, which one of its mandates was to empower consumers.
Dr Megawati explained that the collaboration with the Bogor Regency Office of Trade and Industry has long been established and together work together to protect consumers from harmful food snacks. How consumers are smarter and more empowered in choosing snacks that are safe, healthy and clean are the goals of the socialization that has been carried out so far. Going forward, consumer empowerment is expected to be more intensified and expanded in scope by targeting other community groups such as teenagers and mothers.
