Ngebul Darjo, innovation of processed mackerel products as a solution to the problem of food waste in the leftover ingredient of the canned fish processing industry

Kampus ITS, ITS News – Indonesia as the second-highest food waste producer in the world, can have a potential for entrepreneurship. This is evidenced by a team of students from the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh November (ITS) who managed to utilize the mackerel fish food waste from the canned fish processing industry into delicious food products named Ngebul Darjo.

The Ngebul Darjo team consists of five students, namely Fakhrudin Naufal Ansori and Hafizh Muhammad Rozaan from Civil Infrastructure Engineering, Adella Fajrin Nafiah and Fandhi Al Idrus Dwi Saputra from the Regional and City Planning Department (PWK), and Anisa Luthfiah Amalia from the ITS Business Management Department.

Starting the interview, Fakhrudin Naufal Ansori as the team leader, said that the name Ngebul Darjo comes from the word ‘kebul,’ which means smoke, while Darjo is taken from the name of the city of Sidoarjo, which is the origin of the food. “Our products are smoked mackerel and spicy shredded mackerel,” explained the student from Sidoarjo.

The Ngebul Darjo ITS team consists of (from top left) Adella Fajrin Nafiah, Hafizh Muhammad Rozaan, Fakhrudin Naufal Ansori, Fandhi Al Idrus Dwi Saputra and Anisa Luthfiah Amalia

Interestingly, continued Fakhrudin, in this business, they take advantage of food waste from the canned fish processing industry sold by collectors in Sidoarjo, where mackerel fish from the sector have been eliminated because the size does not meet industry standards. “Even so, this fish has the same nutrition, is still fresh, and suitable for processing,” he said.

Furthermore, Fakhrudin said that the innovation from Ngebul Darjo is from its processing. Usually, smoked fish use skipjack or tuna. However, Ngebul Darjo can process the mackerel into smoked fish with a distinctive taste compared to smoked fish in general.

Fakhrudin added that Ngebul Darjo uses preserved coconut shell smoke, making their products have a distinctive smoked aroma from mackerel fish. For durability, if stored in the freezer, it can last up to two months. “As for the price, we set it from Rp. 20 thousand to Rp. 40 thousand,” he said.

Even this innovative business has been included in the Edutainer Nusantara Fair (ENF) Indonesia competition and must go through a fairly rigorous selection within two months. Starting from the passage of the abstract stage, proposals, finalists to online presentations. “Alhamdulillah, with this very competitive competition, we were able to win a silver (metal) in this event,” said Fakhrudin.

Ngebul Darjo received a lot of appreciation from consumers to the jury during the ENF competition. Apart from being a processed fish product with traditional Indonesian spices, Ngebul Darjo is also one solution in supporting the campaign to like to eat fish by the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP).

In the future, Ngebul Darjo plans to register its products with ITS Food so that the taste can touch many ITS students and educators. They also plan to develop this business idea in other business competitions to attract a lot of funding. “On a broader scale, we also want to empower the community around Sidoarjo Regency to be involved in the production of Ngebul Darjo,” said Fakhrudin.

Finally, the Ngebul Darjo team hopes that this business will receive support from ITS from halal certification and HaKi certification and develop in the ITS business incubator. “With this, we hope that it can open mutually beneficial cooperation between PTN (State Universities, red) and its students,” he concluded. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Shinta Ulwiya