Food is one of the basic human needs that should be fulfilled. The fulfillment of nutritious, qualified and safe food is an important investment of a nation to produce healthy and productive human resources. Additionally, food production is economic activities that provide jobs and income.
Wirakartakusumah and Hariyadi (1995) reported that 90% of the food industry in Indonesia are small-scale enterprises that using very simple technology. While the use of simple technology has allow these industries to employ more workers, since many of them have not applied good manufacturing practices, the quality and the safety of the products is frequently unable to meet the required standards.
Inadequate quality in food products as reflected by instability in appearance (size, shape, and color, texture, and content), inconvenience, and poor packaging are frequently found. The poor quality of food products contributes to non-competitiveness of the product in the market. Results of a study on the competitiveness of food products showed that of the 16 food categories, only 2 food categories (oil and fish) of industries in Indonesia have high competitiveness in the international market. One of the most competitive agricultural products in Indonesia is palm oil (Dewanti-Hariyadi et al., 2004). The commodity which can be processed as cooking oil and other products was mainly processed as Crude Palm Oil (CPO). With the abundant resource of palm oil, it is important to develop research in palm oil-based oleo food to improve its additional value.
Indonesia food products have also been rejected due to filth such as hair, insect legs, metal, glasses, and plastic pieces. Hazardous microbes, parasites and chemicals are also major problems in Indonesian food industries, leading to food borne disease outbreaks and import detention.
In international trade, the food quality and safety issues are frequently causing rework, recall, and even export refusal on the products, which are highly detrimental for the industry and the country. Within the country, food safety problems are repeatedly causing numerous of outbreak such as diarrhea, anthrax, typhus, and hepatitis. Food-borne parasites such as tapeworm, roundworm and Toxoplasma gondii inhabit most of the Indonesian population. The food quality and safety problems indeed has caused significant economic lost for medication, lost of productivity, investigation and trade.
Among numerous of food quality and safety problems in Indonesia, several aspects have been identified as the main problems. They are:
- The high level of spoilage, toxigenic, and pathogenic microbes and mycotoxin on primary and secondary food products.
- The high prevalence of hazardous chemicals such as the use of illegal additives (as borax, formalin, textile-dye), pesticides, and excess use of legal food additives (saccharine, cyclamate) being added on food.
- The inadequacy of technology application especially in local products
The above problems must be solved immediately. However, researches to improve food safety (identification and control of hazard) as well as food quality (handling technique, packaging) are still limited. Therefore, more researches have to be conducted such that strategic programs can be developed to improve food quality and safety which results in improved community health and fair trade
The program and the activities covered by this program are aimed to:
- Develop system (include technology and risk management) to control important microbiological and chemical hazard (e.g. Salmonella , aflatoxin, etc).
- Reduce the use of hazardous chemicals, particularly the application of illegal additives on food, by finding applicable and safer alternatives (e.g. for fresh noodle, meatball, tofu and fresh fish).
Developing technology and its application to increase the quality and the convenience of local food products, e.g. packaging for local snacks, processing technology for palm oil products.
