The hidden superfood: Microalgae from Indonesia and its potency as functional food ingredients

• Main Authors: Setyawan, Ryan Haryo, Purbani, Debora Christin, Noerdjito, Diah Radini, Sudiana, I. Made, Kusmiati, Saskiawan, Iwan, Purnaningsih, Ismu, Mulyadi
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae; Food; Food products; Functional foods & nutraceuticals; Ingredients
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0182806

The pursuit of novel sources of food, especially functional food ingredients, has been intensively carried out to accommodate the urges of double burden malnutrition countermeasures in Indonesia. One potential bioresource to be locally utilized is microalgae due to its plentiful nutritional properties and nutraceutical value. Numerous explorations have been done in isolating microalgae from multiple regions in Indonesia and observing their nutrition and nutraceutical character. Furthermore, the use of microalgae in various functional food products also has been studied. However, the use of Indonesian microalgae as food is still limited. The quite complicated isolation process, as well as a, must be well-controlled culture and harvesting processes are the main difficulties. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to examine the cultural process and prospects of microalgae as functional food ingredients from nutritional and nutraceutical aspects in Indonesia. This information can be used for further exploration of Indonesia-origin microalgae-based sources of food. Moreover, this information can also be beneficial for further development in applying microalgae in a lot of functional food products.