Oleh: Nazrul Rapail
SERDANG, February 7 – The Chilli Garlic Margarine product by students from the Faculty of Food Science and Technology (FSTM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), won the National Palm-based Food Product Development Competition recently.
The product was produced by the Totally Spice group, comprised of final-year students from the Bachelor of Food Science and Technology, FSTM, UPM. They brought home a cash prize of RM1,500.
In addition, the Susu Indon group, consisting of students from FSTM, UPM, also won fourth place in the competition with the Palm-based Almond Milk product and took home a cash prize amounting to RM600.
‘The Chilli Garlic Margarine is made up of 80 per cent of palm oil products, namely palm oil, palm kernel oil and palm stearin.
Group leader, Afiefah Zulkifli, said the idea for the product came about when they found the margarine in the market lacked the flavour of butter available in the market.
"We took inspiration from the garlic-flavoured butter and added chilli in this Chilli Garlic Margarine product because it was known that Malaysians love spicy food.
"The advantage of palm oil-based margarine is that it is free from trans fat and cholesterol, and it is cheaper than butter, and this product is in the form of individual packaging that can be stored at room temperature as well," she said.
She added that this palm oil-based product, chilli garlic margarine, has great potential to be marketed worldwide.
Afiefah said this chilli garlic margarine is versatile and suitable for use as a spread as well as in cooking and baking pastries.
"It took us a week, and we used four different laboratories to produce this product. Our ingredients are also free from artificial colouring, and all the ingredients used are also plant-based as well," she said.
In addition, the production of this margarine is also zero waste because the chilli and garlic that have been used to make margarine can produce two more food products, namely chilli garlic flakes and chilli garlic oil.
Meanwhile, the Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), in collaboration with the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), has organised a Palm-based Food Product Development Competition with the theme "Innovation of Palm-based Food Products". The competition is under the CEO Day@UKM Programme to provide opportunities for students to generate innovative ideas on new food products to promote the use of palm oil in the food industry.
