Fruit is important for the body as it contains vitamins and minerals. Some types of fruit, however, are easily rotten that causes the nutrition of the fruit depleted considerably after harvest. Normally this problem is addressed by giving conventional coating to the fruit by using wax, but the wax is hazardous if consumed for a long time.
Three UGM students, Renata Adaranyssa Egistha Putri, Ni Made Sri Winasti, and Muhammad Toha Tulus Dharmawan have made an innovation by making edible coating from microalgae, namely Scenedesmus sp. and Chlorella sp. They tried giving the edible coating to strawberry that proved to last until four days in room temperature and ten days in low temperature. In comparison, the strawberry without edible coating only lasts two days.
Renata said they chose microalgae as the edible coating because microalgae does not disrupt food security compared to conventional edible coating that uses ingredients like cassava. “Microalgae is easy to grow and we want to raise awareness that not all microorganisms are harmful, many are even useful,” said Renata in a release sent on Thursday (4/7).
The research was part of the Student Creativity Programme which was funded by the Higher Education Directorate General. According to Renata, the research had the potential to introduce microalgae to society. “We hope the research can also help the farmers and fruit vendors to increase their sales as well as raising awareness of fruit consumption,” said Dr. Eko Agus Suyono, M.App.Sc., supervising lecturer.