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Degenerative diseases have been reported as the main causes of mortality number in Indonesia. An unhealthy lifestyle, including lack of exercise combined with low of fiber and antioxidants diet, is believed as the main triggering factor. Functional foods which offer several benefits, including its built-in nutrition, the pharmacological effects, as well as the practical uses, is considered as one of the effective solutions to supply the antioxidant deficiency. Euphorbia hirta is an herbaceous plant that has been reported to have several important pharmacological activities, including in the prevention of some degenerative diseases through its antioxidative capacity. A type of functional food enriched with antioxidant has been formulated from the leaves of E. hirta and black tea (Camellia sinensis); however, the feasibility analysis of its processing industry has not been carried out. This study was aimed to analyze the marketing, technical, management, and financial feasibility of establishment of functional food industry of E. hirta herb combined with black tea. The feasibility was analyzed by considering the marketing aspects, technical aspects (process technology and plant layout), management aspects, and financial aspects as measured by the NPV, Net B/C, IRR, PBP, and BEP values. The financial analysis showed that the NPV was Rp81,520,549.00 with 1.30 of Net B/C, 27.64% of IRR, and 2.6 years of PBP. Based on the results, the planned industry is declared to be feasible especially in the aspects of marketing, technic, management, and financial.

Fermentation by several types of microorganisms was considered as one of several factors causing quality degradation of the palm sap used for production of palm sugar. During harvesting period, pH value of the palm sap gradually decreasing from 6.5 to approximately 4.5. In order to avoid the rapid fermentation, traditionally, the local community uses a material made by mixing small pieces of heartwood of jack tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus) with slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) solution. However, the safety of this material if consumed by the human is still unclear. Consumption of food containing high concentration of slaked lime may cause several organ dysfunctions such as liver, kidney, also heart and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate an alternative material substituting the traditional one by examining the antimicrobial and acidity-stabilizing effects of Yellow Root (Arcangelisia flava Merr) extract. Antimicrobial activity of the water extract was evaluated through a disc-diffusion method using three microorganisms, Salmonella typhii, Staphylococcus aureus, and Trichophyton rubrum. In addition, toxicity test was also performed using BSLT (brine shrimp lethality test). Water extract of A. flava exhibited a positive respond against Salmonella typhii, Staphylococcus aureus, and Trichophyton rubrum with inhibition zones of 19.35, 16.98, and 19.78 mm, respectively at application level of 2% (v/v). Furthermore, this extract also showed an ability to stabilize the acidity of fresh palm sap (pH 5.8 -6.5) due to fermentation mechanism during harvesting and storing. The ability of the extract to stabilize the acid level may be caused by the presence of its active compounds such as alkaloid, tannin, and saponin. The glucosides of those compounds may inhibit the hydrolysis of disaccharide such as sucrose becomes its monosaccharides. Those compounds may also deactivate enzyme invertase secreted by the microbes which can increase the acid level. From the toxicity test, water extract of A. flava was considered as a natural product with no toxicity. Therefore, water extract of A. flava can be utilized as a safe natural food additive, especially in the production of palm sugar.

Surfactants are very important in industry. The cost of commercial surfactant production is still high and the surfactant demand is constantly increasing. Microbial production of surfactant known as biosurfactant shows commercial potency. Utilization of Bacillus sp. strain on glucose fermentation for biosurfactant production was then studied. This type of microbe was isolated from soil contaminated with palm oil. The selection of the strain was based on its ability to form emulsifying zone around the colony and its capability to grow compared with those for commercial bacteria of Bacillus pumilus JCM 2508. The results showed a potentially promising strain with high biosurfactant yields and low surface tension. For further scale-up development, the microbe performance in a fermentor was compared with those in a flask and a proposed model to predict the kinetic profiles of cell mass, biosurfactant and surface tension were also described. The data presented here are related to the research article entitled “Kinetic study and modeling of biosurfactant production using Bacillus sp.” (Heryani and Putra, 2017) [1].