Universitas Brawijaya (UB) together with 50 universities in Indonesia signed a cooperation agreement with the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) to support the Safe Food Goes to Campus Movement, Monday (9/12/2024).
Vice Rector for Research and Innovation, Prof. Dr. Unti Ludigdo., M.Sc., Ak., explained that Indonesia is very behind in research in the fields of food and medicine, including traditional medicine or herbal medicine.
“In the last MoU activity, the Head of BPOM RI, dr. Taruna Ikrar, M.Biomed., MD., Ph.D., explained that the number of Indonesian publications in the fields of medicine and food were only 4,710 and 5,567 respectively compared to Malaysia which reached 10,759 (medicine publications) and 11,281 (food publications). Therefore, we must catch up on this lag,” he said.
Prof. Unti added that to catch up on this lag, one of the efforts made was to collaborate with BPOM.
“The wealth of natural resources owned by Indonesia must be explored and developed into the advantages of this country. This is the urgency of signing the MoU and signing the commitment to support universities for the Safe Food Goes to Campus Movement (PAGC).
The PAGC movement is an effort to combine the steps of government institutions such as BPOM and universities in responding to efforts to improve student competence at various universities in Indonesia through internship programs and joint research,” he said.
Prof. Unti added that the implementation of the MoU by both parties is related to research and innovation. BPOM invites researchers from universities to jointly develop the potential of alternative foods, healthy foods, and medicines in Indonesia. The results are expected to be recognized as innovations utilized by industry, because downstreaming is a major challenge for universities.
The PGAC program in synergy with the MSIB-MBKM platform has been implemented in 5 batches, producing 551 Food Safety Facilitators from the student community. They have assisted 503 processed food MSMEs. Currently, batch 6 is carried out with 125 prospective KP Facilitators. As of May 2024, 34 state/private universities have signed an MoU regarding the synergy of the PGAC-MBKM Program. (OKY/UB PR/ Trans. Iir).
