Universitas Indonesia Faculty of Nursing (FN UI) student Feyza Hilyata who is a member of the Boocaw! Team won 2nd place in the NUS FoodTech Challenge 2022 Competition in Singapore with her BuchaBons which is a healthy jelly stick candy, containing Kombucha, kersen fruit, and herbs. BuchaBons are a healthy choice of digestive products. The product innovation was submitted to the Nestle category on health issues in Asia.
NUS FoodTech Challenge 2022 is a competition organized by the National University Singapore’s Department of Food Science in collaboration with International Flavors & Fragrance (IFF), Nestle, and Perkin Elmer. In this competition, there are two competition tracks, namely local and international. The international track matches innovations from students from various universities in the world. Meanwhile, the local track is specifically for students from universities in Singapore.
The idea of making jelly sticks was motivated by the digestive problems in Southeast Asia. In Asia, GERD, diarrhea, hepatitis and stomach cancer are common and generally underestimated. The rapid growth of digestive diseases over the past two decades may lead to an increase in the number of people affected by digestive diseases and even death.
Digestive problems are experienced by patients regardless of age. Therefore, Team Boocaw! came up with the idea to make a jelly stick candy product that can be enjoyed by all ages from children to the elderly.
The Boocaw! team consists of two members, Feyza Hilyata from UI and Annisa Belva from Binus University. The concept of the NUS FEng2022 competition uses idea pitching that is more directed towards the business field. They managed to get the title of 2nd place at the international level after beating participants from various countries, such as China and Hong Kong through fierce competition.
“I think the issues that are highlighted about digestive problems in Asia are really important, especially in Indonesia itself. BuchaBons products can be an alternative solution for digestive problems,” said the Faculty of Nursing UI 2019 student.
Furthermore, Feyza explained that if paired with medicine, BuchaBons are expected to be a healthy snack substitution product. BuchaBons are made from kombucha, which is a tea with scoby fungus that contains healthy bacteria, plus probiotic fungi.
The sweetener used for BucbaBons comes from kersen fruit (cherry fruit). Kersen fruit acts as a sugar substitute that triggers kombucha to ferment. Besides being sweet, kersen also has antidiabetic properties. There are several variants of BuchaBons made using local Indonesian herbs that are rich in health benefits.
This product is made from probiotic sources, low in sugar, friendly to vegetable lovers, delicious, and affordable. BuchaBons are easy to carry and can be consumed anywhere.
“To be honest, it was very unexpected, because the concept of the competition was different from the ones I usually participate in. It just so happened that the competition was quite long and coincided with the faculty exams. I think this is a miracle from Allah,” said Feyza.
He hopes to continue to excel at the national and international levels, so that he can make Indonesia and UI proud. In addition, Feyza hopes that this achievement can inspire students to collaborate in channeling their innovative ideas so that they can contribute to the surrounding community.
This annual competition brings together students from universities around the world to brainstorm and develop innovative food technology ideas to address issues facing the food industry today. The NUS FTC 2022 challenge focuses on creating new food concepts that have value benefits such as health and fun to excite Asian consumers.
The competition consisted of pre-competition(online workshop), elimination round, mentoring with industry experts, and the final round through presentations from all finalists to convey their ideas to the judges.
