According to Analytical Microbiology lecturer Pingkan Aditiawati, the food standardization was made in every processing step; the material, the tools, to the processing method used. Since 4 years ago, students have made standardizations for more than 30 foods. "With this standard, everyone can make fermented foods. If they fail, then their method would be the one at fault," he said.
The idea of creating a standard for food came up due to the fact that so many have failed in creating fermented foods, like yoghurt. Also, complaints about how the same food tastes differently in different regions.
Foods that are popular, Pingkan said, were taken to the labs to be analyzed. Students were also told to experiment on various methods in increasing the the foods' quality so that their nutritions and proteins would increase, and in the end could be advantageous to small and medium enterprises that sell them.
Examples of the standardized fermented foods are Subang's unique food, the cemayi (a form of coconut leftovers), Balinese alcoholic drink, tape, yoghurt, soya cheese from soya milk, and mongso honey. This year, 8 foods were added to the list, which are tape ketan, nata de banana, oncom, tempe gembus, terasi, samu fish, cheese and tempoyak.
According to Microbiology student Felix Johanes, every student group analyzed the foods for as long as one semester. His group, for example, also innovated in the packaging method of tempe gembus. "Using banana leaf and brown paper is much better than plastic and jati leaf," conveyed the third year student.
Fermentation is a commonly used technique to prolong a food's timespan since prehistoric age. Correct usage of bacteria in the process can change the original aroma and flavor and create addictiveness and increase nutritional quality.
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