Food is the centerpiece of many cultures around the world. In Indonesia, that centerpiece is a product made primarily from U.S. soybeans called tempeh, a highly nutritional fermented food. A soy checkoff-funded program is working to improve tempeh production and further expand U.S. soy demand for use in this and other human food products.
About 70 percent of Indonesian households consume tempeh on a daily basis, according to Made Astawan, Ph.D., chairman of the Indonesia Tempe Forum (ITF), an organization focused on promoting innovation in tempeh production. But since tempeh production is primarily a household and small-scale food industry involving thousands of tempeh makers across the country, conditions are often unhygienic and labor-intensive.
The U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and the state soy checkoff boards in Minnesota and North Dakota partnered with local groups to form Rumah Tempeh, the first tempeh-production training facility in the country.
“Rumah Tempeh helps educate and train tempeh producers on good hygiene and production practices,” says Keith Schrader, chairman of the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council. “Not only is tempeh a significant market opportunity in Indonesia, we see an opportunity to expand tempeh production to other countries in Asia.”
Rumah Tempeh is also working on developing new products that use U.S. soy and has recently added two training courses for Vietnamese tempeh producers.
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