On 4th-5th September 2019, Food technology student Andrean Wangsa (FTE17), and lecturer Mr. Hendry Noer Fadlilah, S.T.P, M.P. attended an international conference , organized by SEAFAST Center Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB). This is the second annual international seminar, with the theme “Facing Future Challenges: Sustainable Food Safety, Quality and Nutrition”. The keynote speakers are Ir. Tetty H. Sihombing, MP. (from Indonesia National Agency of Drug and Food Control).
On the first day, the main event was divided into three main topics: Current Research: Findings, Food Processing and Ingredients; Current Research: Findings on Food Safety, Health and Nutrition; Current Research: Findings on Oil Palm and Related Issues. The main focus on the first day was about food technology, diverging from agricultural sciences, nutrition and public health, food microbiology, food processing, sensory analysis, food chemistry, etc.
On the second day, the main focus was on palm oil, talking about oil palm business, processing, and handling, as well as Indonesia’s potential of exporting palm oil. There was also a palm oil workshop. The topics discussed on the second day related to palm oil, from processing, the chemistry behind it, until recycling it.
There were a lot of speakers, each spoke for around 10 minutes, about different interesting topics. The event took place from morning to the evening, and there were several rooms with different purposes. There was an area where food technologists from different campuses displayed their innovative products, which can be tested and sold. For instance, there are products from MOCAF (Modified Cassava Flour), secang latte, ube kefir, sweet potato & cowpea functional bread, fermented guava jelly, germinated brown rice milk, banana peel granola, etc. Other than innovative products, there were also magazines and journals relating to food technology like foodreview being sold, some of which contained of articles written by Mr. Hendry himself.
This type of event is informative for food science, nutrition, and food technology students, and it is encouraged for students to join seminars and workshops like these, as these kinds of information cannot be obtained just from attending class. In addition to this, attending seminars also builds creativity and expands connections, it also prepares and inspires the student to know what their jobs will be like, so they can prepare on which areas of the field they should focus on if they want a certain position in a job.
(Andrean Wangsa/FTE 2017)