UNAIR student wins international award for food safety detector
Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) students continue to make proud achievements for the alma mater. This time it was TERRA team's turn to win three categories in the World Young Invention and Innovation Award (WYIIA) 2024. The international competition was held in Yogyakarta, on Sunday (13/10/24). The team consisted of Arinda Melina Putri (FPK), Catherine Harijanto (FEB), Rayhan Ajie Nugraha (FTMM), Andini Ariani Carolina, (FPK) and Tiara Eka Saputri (FISIP). The five of them managed to win three awards at once. In this event, the TERRA team won the gold medal, grand prize, and best presentation. This award was achieved thanks to TERRA's unique and interesting innovation. The innovation is a smart patch that detects the feasibility of consuming food.
When met by UNAIR NEWS on Thursday (10/18/24), Melin as the head of TERRA team said that TERRA is a smart patch innovation that can function as an indicator in detecting the feasibility of food consumption. This innovation is made from bay flowers, kappa carrageenan from seaweed and mocaf flour (modified cassava flour). They then processed these materials into stickers in the form of smart halochromic film.
In addition, this innovation is also accompanied by a smart application that can provide notification of the appropriateness of food ingredients for consumption. In the process, if there is a color change on the TERRA sticker, the sticker can be scanned by the application. Furthermore, the application will display recommendations on how to store ingredients, the length of shelf life, and reminders when food ingredients are no longer suitable for consumption.
In its development, Melin said that TERRA will target consumers in the food industry. Such as restaurants and cafes, as well as housewives as consumers of its products. This is because many people throw away food ingredients that already look less fresh for fear that they are not suitable for consumption. In fact, scientifically the ingredients can still be consumed even though they are less fresh. This high level of food waste prompted the TERRA team to market their product to the food industry and households. Before marketing the product widely, the team has conducted experiments on several food ingredients such as fish, chicken, beef and shrimp. The experiments showed satisfactory results.
“Untuk produk TERRA ini saat pameran WYIIA mendapat respon positif dari para pengunjung. Bahkan ada yang ingin membeli untuk digunakan di rumah. Saat ini kami menjual produk ini dengan harga Rp22.000 dan berisi 6 stiker dengan ukuran berbeda,” ungkapnya. Selain itu, Melin mengungkapkan bahwa timnya juga tengah mencari sponsor dari perusahaan yang bergerak di bidang bioteknologi. Tujuannya untuk dapat menekan biaya produksi sehingga harga jual produk lebih terjangkau. Saat ini timnya juga sedang mengupayakan untuk mendaftarkan hak paten.
