Red Ginger Really Works, Great Benefits

According to GenPI.com, PT Kalbe Farma Tbk introduced Negeri Jahe Merah, a design by BU BINA (Bintang Toedjoe Innovation Natural Business Unit).

BU BINA is a Bintang Toedjoe B2B subsidiary that focuses on natural raw materials in order to promote the sustainability and availability of the best red ginger.

"Bintang Toedjoe has been manufacturing herbal goods since 2000. However, the voyage has not been successful in obtaining standardized raw red ginger, causing product performance to fluctuate "Sari Pramadiyanti, Head of BU BINA, stated in a release acquired by GenPI.com on Tuesday (24/5/).

She noted that these stumbling blocks were caused by meteorological circumstances, such as flooding.

Another issue is uneven upkeep; for example, it is sometimes diligently fertilized, cleaned of pests, or watered, but other times it is not.

It released the Bejo product in 2012.

However, the same issue emerges, namely that components are sometimes in stock and sometimes they are not, as well as the quality of ginger, which is sometimes hot and sometimes not spicy.

"Because this is our primary product, we recognize the need of ensuring quality consistency and supply sustainability. So we strive to create a herbal ecosystem centered on our primary raw resource, red ginger "Sari elaborated.

She thinks that the herbal ecosystem can sustain national raw material independence without relying on other nations because there are many key components to consider, such as journey leadtime, container/handling conditions throughout the voyage, and others.

Sari stressed that her party made the decision to develop integration from the upstream to the downstream.

This is in contrast to the pharmaceutical sector in general, which concentrates solely on the downstream by utilizing raw materials, then making and selling them.

"We're now attempting to leave even sooner. We work upstream to encourage farmers to cultivate red ginger. Beginning with sowing, planting, harvesting, post-harvest processing, and finally selling, "She elaborated.

Red ginger was chosen because it has more health advantages than "emprit" or "gajah" ginger.

Furthermore, red ginger includes anthocyanins (the red pigment) as antioxidants, and its essential oil concentration is greater.

Red ginger had a higher level of spiciness and gingerol concentration than "gajah" ginger but was not substantially different from "emprit" ginger.

"The red ginger ecosystem has seven components. First, consider the nursery or seeds. So that the red ginger produced is good, we select nice seeds, and we collaborate with BPPT, Balittro, to generate superior seeds and kinds "Sari said.

The red ginger ecosystem also contains a tissue culture facility called Kalbe Ubaya Hanbang Bio Lab, which was constructed in collaboration with Kyung Hee University in South Korea and the University of Surabaya.

The cultivation process begins once a nice seed is chosen.

At this point, coaching on plant maintenance is provided.

"This implies that farmers are given SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to ensure that the watering process is right and that there is neither excess or shortage of water. Our crew occasionally visits the site to check that farmer partners follow the planting method "She stated.

Red ginger is kept alive once it has been planted for at least 10 months.

This is due to the fact that there are quality requirements that must be satisfied, one of which is gingerol.

During the post-harvest stage, BU BINA guarantees that the red ginger is collected, cleaned, diced, and dried in accordance with specified specifications, such as the water content not exceeding 10% so that there is no fungus in the harvested red ginger.

In addition, red ginger from the BINA environment has been evaluated and shown to be aflatoxin-free.

"Then it goes through the extraction process to make extracts, or it can be distilled to make ginger oil. There is a pharmacological stage where the ginger ingested offers health advantages "She continued.

Then, undertake preclinical and clinical experiments to confirm that red ginger has the claimed health advantages, is packed, and can be sold.

"Hopefully, it can be exported abroad, so that not only local people know about red ginger, but overseas also know Red Ginger, in accordance with Kalbe's strategic initiative, namely Go Global," she said.

Bejo Jahe Merah, on the other hand, is a Bintang Toedjoe product that contains red ginger from the BINA ecosystem and is being scientifically investigated as an immunomodulator.

The purpose of the clinical trial is to determine the efficacy of utilizing Bejo Jahe Merah as a supplemental treatment for individuals infected with Covid-19 who have minor symptoms.