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| The portrait of UMM students developing “jelly squeeze” made from native chicken bones. (Photo: Istimewa) |
Regarding innovation, the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) is the champion. The UMM’s Faculty of Medical Science students recently developed jelly squeeze made from native chicken bones. The idea was initiated in the Student Creativity Program (Trans.: Program Kreativitas Mahasiswa) and got funding from the Ministry of Research and Technology of the Directorate-General of Higher Education of Indonesia.
The team leader, Atika Nopriana, said that the idea of choosing jelly squeeze came from the abundance of unused chicken bone by-products. Then, she and her group intended to process the material into a useful product for the community.
"All actually started with our desire to create innovations children can love. Then, we thought of making this jelly squeeze. Moreover, children like it. It (jelly squeeze) is still being tested on mice to see the effect,” the team leader added.
The research group got the needed ingredients from chicken farmers and butchers. As Atika said, the product is made from free-range chicken bones, not broiler chickens because native chicken has a higher concentration of minerals than other types of chicken, such as calcium and protein.
Chicken bones are put in pressure cookers for 1 hour to get their soft texture during manufacturing. Next, they are dried using a dehydrator for 1 day and pulverized with a hammermill and blender. Then, the bones are sifted into flour of free-range chicken bone.
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After that, to create a jelly squeeze, a mixture of chicken bone flour and carrageenan dissolved in hot water are necessary. The used ratio should be more chicken bones than carrageenan to get a jelly-like texture.
The jelly is still in the experimental stage at the moment and is being tested on malnourished mice. The group is also looking for the proper formulation. Later, mice suffering from malnutrition will be given the product and seen for approximately 2 to 3 weeks on how significant is the effect of the jelly squeeze.
In the future, Atika expects her innovation with her team to be immediately applied to society, especially children with stunting. Hence, her group will continue researching and improving the jelly squeeze processing. In this innovation, Atika is accompanied by other medical science students: Avicena Mafatihul Asro Efendi, Muhamad Ridwan Prasetya, and Muhammad Zaki Fahlevi, supervised by Dr. dr. Irma Suswati M.Kes. (imh/tri/wil)
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