UB students came up with the idea of ​​making cheese slice functional smart active coating to prevent coronary heart disease, cancer and diabetes mellitus

WHO states that degenerative diseases have caused the deaths of nearly 17 million people worldwide, making degenerative diseases the biggest killer in the world. Degenerative diseases are non-communicable diseases that last chronically with a decrease in cell and organ function, such as coronary heart disease, cancer and diabetes mellitus. The effort to prevent this dangerous disease is by consuming foods that contain antioxidants. Antioxidants are compounds that can inhibit or prevent the oxidation process of other compounds which produce free radicals that can damage cells. One of the compounds contained in antioxidants is beta carotene.

Beta carotene can be obtained from fruit such as pumpkin. Unfortunately, beta carotene chemically has low solubility in water, is sensitive to heat, light and oxygen so it is difficult to use directly in food, so the research team consisting of Dela Dafista, Tiara Diva Octavia, Putri Selvia Nurfebriana, Dafa Rafiul and Tri Mey Wulansari who was supervised by Dr. Abdul Manab, S.Pt., Mp from Brawijaya University uses yellow pumpkin beta carotene compounds to inhibit the rate of oxidation which can be used indirectly in food, namely by using beta carotene as an additional ingredient in coatings (food packaging) for foods that are easily oxidized like cheese slices.

Cheese slices are cheese in the form of sheets which are usually added to food or eaten directly. Because of its thin shape, cheese slices are easily oxidized and damaged. Additional control methods are needed to easily inactivate pathogens on the surface of cheese slices after the packaging stage, such as packaging or coating with antimicrobial materials, which are a more effective solution for controlling microbial contaminants on the surface of cheese, compared to adding preservatives to food. The addition of pumpkin beta carotene to the cheese slice coating is expected to suppress microbial growth and oxidation on the surface of the cheese slice and increase its shelf life. In this research, researchers initiated a smart active coating which will be an indicator of quality degradation in cheese slices, the beta carotene color pigment changes under oxidizing agents (from orange to light yellow) which indicates a color change as a factor for determining the expiration time of the packaged product.

The research team succeeded in submitting this research proposal to the 2023 Student Creativity Program (PKM), which is a prestigious research event and is organized by the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs (Belmawa) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemdikbud-Ristek) of the Republic of Indonesia as support for research progress. , especially among students. This team shares the research process which can be seen at the following link: bit.ly/penelitiancheeseslicesmartactivecoating other interesting information related to this research on Instagram @cheeseslice.sac_ don’t forget to follow!

Team leader telephone number: 085268309609 (Dela Dafista)