Jakarta (ANTARA) - Agriculture and Crop Research Organization's Agroindustry Research Center at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) created a coating solution to maintain freshness and increase shelf life of fruits by utilizing palm oil derivative products.
"This palm oil-based coating solution is safe to consume and is included within the edible coating category," BRIN's Agroindustry Research Center Head, Mulyana, noted in a statement on the agency's official website on Monday.
According to BRIN, the price for the coating solution created from palm oil derivative products is much cheaper as compared to a similar coating solution made from bees wax.
This is because palm oil derivative products are abundant in Indonesia. Mulyana explained that the average shelf life of a mango is only seven to 10 days. However, with the coating solution, a mango can last up to a month.
Fruit coating solution that can delay a fruit's ripeness and extend its shelf life can help fruit farmers, merchants, and exporters in marketing their products to a broader market, including in the Middle East and Europe.
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Agroindustry Research Center's research on the development of a fruit coating solution is supported by the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS).
BPDPKS Program Division Head Arfie Thahar noted that Indonesia is a major producer of the world's palm oil and it exports most of the products in the form of raw palm oil.
Utilizing palm oil derivative products to produce fruit coating is part of the diversification efforts to improve the product's added value, he explained.
Earlier, here on Friday, Thahar stated that during the 2015-2021 period, the agency had distributed research funding worth Rp389.3 billion as part of the institution's efforts to support the development of national palm oil research and innovation.
