Pencegahan Stunting melalui Fortifikasi Tepung Ikan pada Produk Makanan untuk Balita di Desa Kebakalan Kabupaten Kebumen

Abstract

The prevalence of stunting in Kebumen Regency has shown a declining trend, decreasing from 14% to 12% in 2022. Nevertheless, efforts to prevent stunting still need to be continuously reinforced. Kebakalan Village, located in Kebumen Regency, is one of the villages where stunting cases are found. Developing protein-based food products through innovation in fish flour fortification for complementary foods for toddlers represents a strategic approach to stunting prevention. The program was carried out through activities including socialization on the urgency of stunting prevention in child development, administration of pre-tests and post-tests to measure participants’ understanding of stunting, and demonstrations of fish flour fortification in toddler foods. The activity involved “Bapperida” as the resource person, with participants consisting of “PKK” women’s groups, community groups, and Posyandu cadres. The results indicated an improvement in participants’ understanding of stunting prevention through the consumption of foods enriched with fish protein, as reflected in the increased pre-test and post-test scores. The demonstration of fish flour fortification also enhanced participants’ skills in processing fish flour–based food products. Several products developed during the activity included shrimp skewer fritters, Pontianak-style vegetable fritters, potato patties, potato nuggets, and tofu balls. The successful practice of preparing fortified foods is expected to strengthen participants’ awareness of the importance of nutritious meals in preventing stunting. Further monitoring is needed to ensure program sustainability and to enhance the added value of innovative products derived from fish flour fortification. This program produced the following outputs: (1) an activity report, (2) six media publications, (3) a manuscript for a community service journal, (4) two community service modules, (5) one book, and (6) one copyright.