VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Stunting is still a major issue which is being faced by Indonesia. According to the Ministry of Health, stunting is a condition in which toddlers have a length or height that is less than their age. Stunting in toddlers includes chronic nutritional problems caused by many factors, such as socioeconomic conditions, maternal nutrition during pregnancy, infant morbidity, and lack of nutritional intake in infants. Stunting toddlers in the future will have difficulty in achieving optimal physical and cognitive development.

In 2019, the National Development Planning Agency determined 160 Cities and Regencies which were priorities for stunting management. One of them is Subang Regency in West Java Province. The Center for Appropriate Technology Research as a government institution has the responsibility to help reduce the prevalence of stunting in Indonesian toddlers, especially in Subang Regency through the Nutritious Local Food Innovation program. Through the National Research Priority for Revitalizing Food Security and Nutrition for Stunting Prevention, Ainia Herminiati and the LIPI team conducted a research 'Application of Micronutrient Premix in Complementary Foods for Mother's Milk (MP-ASI) and Its Effectiveness for Prevention of Stunting Toddlers in Subang Regency'. Ainia and the team have developed products that can be consumed by toddlers, including pudding and instant baby porridge as complementary food for mother’s milk (MP-ASI) for babies aged 6 to 24 months. The instant porridge product as MP-ASI which is given the brand 'Pro Babies' uses the basic ingredients of mocaf flour which is produced by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Tanjung Siang District, Subang Regency. Mocaf flour is an intermediate product from cassava. Supporting food crops of agricultural development programs and activities in West Java Province in 2015-2019 used rice, corn, and soybean. One of the locations for the development of plant cultivation is in Subang Regency.

The "Pro Babies" product is a local food innovation made from mocaf flour with supporting ingredients of skim milk and tempe flour, fortified by micronutrient premix (Fe, Zn, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, folic acid), and enriched with inulin. The product form chosen is instant porridge and pudding with consideration of relatively long shelf life, more practical because it reduces volume and it is easy to serve and to handle in the distribution process.