JAKARTA — The palm oil has expanded its versatility into the horticulture produces. One of its derivative products can be used as edible coating solution to enhance the post-harvest life of fruits by minimizing their rate of respiration and weight loss and keeping them fresh for much longer time.
The National Research and Innovation Board’s (BRIN) Agriculture and Food Research Division Head Puji Lestari said that the fruits are perishable in nature and only have short shelf life. “The perishable nature of fruits can easily deteriorate their quality after being harvested. The fruits are also very dependent on their seasonal condition,” she told participants of the webinar on ”Palm Oil Products For Horticulture” on Tuesday, 04 October 2022.
BRIN has conducted a research on the coating solution by using the palm oil derivative since 2016. The coating is applicable for all kinds of fruits. But now, they only applied it for several fruits, such as mango, mangosteen, and apple.
One of the fruits subjected to the research is mango. Initially, the mangos at ambient temperature without coating can only have a shelf life of one week. But with the application of the palm oil-based coating, their shelf life can be extended up to 15 days.
BRIN Agroindustry Research Center Head Mulyana Hadipernata said that the BRIN’s innovative coating product have been tested for a number of farmers and fruit traders in Malang, East Java and Yogyakarta. “We’ve applied it to fruit traders and farmers to get their feedback. Alhamdulillah (Thanks God), their responses are good. Hopefully, it can be also well applied in Bandung,” he said in Bandung recently.
He said that by coating the fruits with the palm oil-based coating product of BRIN, farmers, traders and other business players can be more efficient in the process of preserving the fruits, which is usually conducted by using cooling machines or applying wax coating that are much more expensive.
“Certainly, fruits experience post-harvest respiration. But the application of the coating will delay it, slowing the decaying process and keeping them fresh for much longer time,” he said.
Mulyana said that they will mass-produce the edible palm-based coating on a home scale. “We’ll focus on fulfilling our local need first, as we have big potential of fruits here. Later when we manage to fulfill the local need, we’ll consider to export it,” he said. (*)
Source: KOMPAS.com
