11 July 2025
Fenny Julistine Tarigan
The Vice Dean III of the Faculty of Agriculture, the Head of the Research and Innovation Development Agency, the Manager for Downstreaming and Commercialization, and several lecturers from the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Agriculture also attended the meeting.
During the discussion, Puri Food & Healthy Founder Putri Nasution explained that Puri Aren Cair is an innovative transformation of traditional palm sugar into a modern liquid format. The product has successfully entered international markets, with exports to Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, and Japan. “We aim to deliver an innovative product that maintains its traditional value but is packaged in a modern and practical form for global needs,” she said.
Puri Food & Healthy expressed several needs to support collaboration with USU, including a request for land within the USU campus to establish a Research and Development (R&D) site for cultivating wild palm trees with high-quality and eco-friendly sap. They also proposed developing a specialized cooking stove prototype that maintains stable temperatures during processing to prevent foaming or crystallization in the final product.
“Puri also requires the design of a sachet machine for product packaging, for which we will coordinate with the Faculty of Engineering. Preliminary information indicates that the basic equipment is already available and only needs modification,” explained Ferri, Puri Food & Healthy’s supervisor.
One of the innovative collaboration plans offered was the joint development of a licensed product between USU and Puri Food & Healthy—sugar-free Puri Aren Cair for people with diabetes, similar to Diabetasol products. This plan would be supported by in-depth research with USU academics.
Prof. Poppy expressed USU’s strong support for the collaboration. “We are ready to support the downstreaming of research related to palm sugar. The provision of land for wild palm cultivation is planned for the USU Kwala Bekala campus area and will be discussed further with the Vice-Rector V,” she said.
Through this synergy, sustainable collaboration will emerge to elevate local potential into globally competitive products that still preserve local wisdom and promote public health.
USU–SingHealth Collaboration Strengthens Global Health Research and Publications
USU and BPSDM Komdigi Medan Discuss Collaboration on National AI Talent Development
Universitas Sumatera Utara Hosts Scientific Discussion on Indonesian Palm Oil Dialectics Addressing Climate Change and Disaster Risks in Sumatra
