Journal of Agri-Food Science and Technology

Optimization of Vitamin C and Antioxidant Activity in Jelly Candies through the Addition of Tomato Juice and Red Guava

2026-01-01T09:40:07+00:00

Adding functional foods to confectionery can increase children's nutritional intake. Gummy candy is a type of confectionery that children enjoy. It contains high sugar but low nutritional value. The innovation of adding fruit extracts rich in vitamin C and antioxidants from abundant local foods, such as tomatoes and red guava, was expected to improve the gummy candy's chemical properties. This research contributes to improving the chemical characteristics and sensory acceptability of gummy candy by adding tomato and red guava extract. The ingredients are tomato and red guava juice, gelatin, high-fructose syrup, sucrose, and citric acid. Treatments Formula F0, F1, F2, and F3 received 0, 10, 30, and 30% tomato juice and 0, 10, 20, and 30% red guava. The results of sensory testing showed that the panelists preferred the F3 gummy candy formulation. Chemical characteristics show that the addition of red guava extract increases the moisture content, vitamin C, antioxidants, and total soluble solids. In F0, the moisture content was 31.14%, vitamin C 0.21 mg, antioxidant activity 21.63%, and total soluble solids 30.17 mg/L. The optimal treatment at F3 produced a moisture content of 40.19%, total soluble solids of 35.83 ^oBrix, antioxidant activity of 34.56%, and vitamin C of 1.61 mg. Adding tomato and red guava juice to gummy sweets can increase their vitamin C and antioxidant content. Gummy candy is a nutritious food that tastes good and has enough vitamin C and antioxidants for people to consume.

Food Loss and Food Waste Assessment of Strategic Food Commodities in South Kalimantan Province: Economic Valuation and Carrying Capacity Implications

2025-10-04T12:58:10+00:00

Food loss (FL) and food waste constitute significant barriers to achieving food security and sustainable agricultural development in Indonesia. This research quantifies food loss and waste across the complete supply chain for eight strategic commodities in South Kalimantan Province, examining their economic implications and theoretical carrying capacity contributions. Using Food Balance Sheet methodology with FAO regional coefficients, we analyzed 2024 supply chain flows for eight strategic commodities: rice, root crops (sweet potato, cassava), fruits (orange, banana), and vegetables (tomato, chilies). Based on 2024 data, our analysis documents substantial inefficiencies with aggregate food loss and waste reaching 49.7% of total production. Rice shows 17.5% total losses, while horticultural crops approach 60% loss rates. Economic losses total IDR 4.3 trillion (20% of agricultural output). Upstream supply chain stages account for 83.8% of total losses, indicating fundamental infrastructure and technical capacity constraints. Carrying capacity calculations demonstrate that orange losses alone could theoretically sustain the entire provincial population for approximately 29 years, revealing substantial untapped potential for regional food security enhancement. These findings suggest that efficiency improvements may offer important alternatives to production-focused development strategies for enhancing food security. Priority interventions should target post-harvest infrastructure, processing capacity, and cold chain development. This study contributes to providing a comprehensive estimate of food loss and waste in eight strategic commodities in South Kalimantan.

Product Quality Evaluation of Smoked Catfish Producer in Pati Regency, Jawa Tengah based on Proximate, Microbiological, and Organoleptic Parameters

2025-04-28T01:23:13+00:00

Smoked catfish is one of the popular fishery products in Indonesian society. Its soft meat and easy cultivation are the reasons why catfish is chosen as the raw material for making smoked fish. This research uses a case study of one of the smoked catfish producers (producer A) in Prawoto Village, Pati Regency, Central Java. The smoking process still uses traditional smoking. The research aims to determine the quality level of smoked catfish products from producer A and compare it to the quality level of benchmark product and the SNI standards. Quality analysis is carried out by chemical (protein, fat, moisture, and ash content), Total Plate Count (TPC) test, and organoleptic quality (the Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA) and hedonic tests). The results of the quality evaluation of producer A product: protein content 25.21%, moisture content 55.57%, fat content 8.62%, ash content 1.39%, and for TPC was 3.7×103 CFU/g. Meanwhile, organoleptic tests on untrained consumer panelists showed that only a few parameters did not produce significantly different results. The quality parameters of product from producer A which have higher values compared to that from producer B are protein, moisture content, and TPC. When compared to the SNI standards, producer A, which is the main focus, has quality parameters that meet the requirements. Producer B, as a comparison, also meets the SNI standards. Recommendations to improve product quality include using a closed smoking process, and adding salt and liquid smoke for fresh catfish.

Cassava Lanting Substituted with Mole Crab (Emerita emeritus) Flour to Increase Calcium Content

2026-04-18T03:55:47+00:00

The fact that most Indonesians only get about 40% of the suggested daily allowance of calcium shows how important it is to come up with new foods that use calcium-rich local ingredients. Mole crab (Emerita emeritus), a crustacean that lives along the southern coast of Java, has a lot of calcium and could be used instead of other ingredients in some traditional foods. This study contributed the best mole crab flour substitution in cassava-based lanting formulation and evaluated its chemical and sensory properties. Three replications were used in a completely randomized design with a single factor, mole crab flour replacement amounts of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% (P0–P4). Hedonic evaluation, nutritional value calculation, moisture, ash, fat, protein, carbohydrate, and calcium content were evaluated. The results demonstrated that increasing levels of mole crab flour substitution significantly enhanced calcium, protein, and ash contents, while moisture content decreased and fat content fluctuated. Sensory evaluation showed that panelist acceptance of appearance, texture, and taste improved up to the optimum formulation at P2, then declined at higher substitution levels due to the dominance of fishy odor and flavor. Based on the exponential comparison method, P2 was selected as the best formulation because it provided the most balanced improvement in nutritional quality and sensory acceptability, contributing approximately 15% of the daily value for calcium per serving. These findings suggest that mole crab flour substitution in lanting could help communities in southern Java construct calcium-rich functional native meals to boost mineral intake.

Analysis of Starch Content and Impurities During Tapioca Flour Production Process

2025-10-04T07:45:38+00:00

Tapioca is a processed product from cassava tubers (Manihot esculenta) that plays an important role in the food industry, both as a main ingredient and an additive. The quality of tapioca is greatly influenced by its starch content as the main component and the level of contaminants in it. Starch content is the main indicator of quality because it determines the physical and functional characteristics of tapioca, while contaminants are important parameters that reflect the presence of foreign substances or unwanted contaminants. The main contribution of this study is to focus on samples from one tapioca industry in Central Java without seasonal replication or interlaboratory validation. Starch content was measured using the hydrolysis method, which began with sample weighing, the addition of 0.5N HCl, hydrolysis in a water bath, and finally titration. The scientific significance of this study is that it provides real-time field data on daily variations in starch content (79.83–83.67%) and impurity content (0.19–0.28%), which supports continuous quality monitoring for SNI 3451:2011 (starch content ≥ 75%) and SNI 01-3451:1994 (impurity content ≤ 0.6%). This research is expected to provide data-based practical recommendations to optimize the production process and contribute to increasing the added value of tapioca in Indonesia. With a starch content of >80% and impurities of <0.3%, it can increase export competitiveness because it meets the international Codex Alimentarius standard (food-grade tapioca).

Physicochemical Characteristics of Watermelon Rind Puree Ice Cream with Cornstarch Addition

2026-05-11T13:44:39+00:00

Ice cream is a frozen dairy product made from milk and other ingredients such as sugar, emulsifier, and fruit for flavoring and enhance the nutrition content. Watermelon rind, which is rich in pectin that can form gel structures, is used for nutritional ingredient of ice cream. Pectin gel plays an important role in maintaining ice cream stability and reducing melting rate. In addition, cornstarch was added to the ice cream formulation for thickening and stabilization agent. This study contributed to evaluate the effect of watermelon rind puree and cornstarch addition on the physicochemical properties of ice cream. The ice cream production using comparison of watermelon rind puree and corn starch in three variations, namely 205:5 g (F1); 200:10 g (F2); and 195:15 g (F3). The observed parameters included overrun, viscosity, melting rate, fat content, vitamin C content, and antioxidant activity. The results showed that the addition of cornstarch had a significant effect on overrun, viscosity, melting rate, vitamin C content, and antioxidant activity, but had no significant effect on fat content. The melting rate and overrun value increased, while the highest viscosity was observed in F3 (1863.00 mPa.s). Antioxidant activity also increased significantly from F1 (42,300.52%) to F3 (54,882.33%). The highest vitamin C content was found in F3 (25.63 mg/100g). These findings indicate that the addition of cornstarch and watermelon rind puree improves the physical quality of ice cream and helps retain its bioactive compounds, with F3 identified as the best formulation.

Antidiabetic Potential of Kencur (Kaempferia galanga L.) Extract Supplemented with Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) as A Low-calorie Herbal Beverage

2025-11-26T04:45:51+00:00

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in Indonesia continues to rise, making the search for alternative treatments urgent, including the utilization of Indonesian medicinal plants such as kencur and stevia. Stevia was utilized to support glucose regulation by enhancing insulin sensitivity and providing antioxidant protection without increasing the caloric load. This study aimed to evaluate the antidiabetic potential of kencur-stevia extract. An in vivo design was used with Wistar rats induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). Animals were allocated to the following groups: healthy control, STZ + saline, STZ + glibenclamide (2.5 mg/kg body weight), and STZ + kencur-stevia extract at doses of 100, 150, and 200 mg/200 g body weight. Body weight (BW), blood glucose, hemoglobin (Hb), and hematocrit (Ht) were assessed on days 0, 2, 7, 14, 21, and 28. The results showed that the 150 mg/200 g dose most effectively maintained body-weight gain approaching the healthy control, whereas the 200 mg/200 g dose produced the greatest reduction in blood glucose compared to the diabetic control (245 mg/dL on day 28), showing comparable results to the glibenclamide group. Hematological indices showed minor fluctuations but remained relatively stable at the 200 mg/200 g dose. In conclusion, these preliminary findings indicate that kencur-stevia extract is a promising antidiabetic agent; the 200 mg/200 g dose is optimal for glycemic control, while the 150 mg/200 g dose is better for weight maintenance. This study contributes to the development of evidence-based herbal antidiabetic therapies by demonstrating the dose-dependent effects of a novel kencur-stevia extract combination on glycemic control.