TEMPO.CO, Depok - Doctoral students of the Pharmaceutical Faculty at University of Indonesia (UI), Zilhadia, conducted a research on medical capsule made of gelatin extracted from the skin of Etawah goat or Jamnapari goat.

“Etawah goats can be a great source for gelatin since it’s halal, accessible, relatively low-cost, and contains good gelatin characteristics to be used as hard or soft capsules in the pharmaceutical industry,” Zilhadiah said on Wednesday, January 18, 2017.

She chose Etawah goats since it has a larger skin compared to other local goat species. Etawah crossbreed is considered as a prime goat species that can potentially be grown domestically.

Her research is a part of her dissertation with the title “Gelatin Extraction from Etawah Goat Skin Using Hydrolysis Acid Method and Its Implementation For Hard Capsule Shells,”. She successfully graduated thanks to the specific research.

Following a number of lab tests, Zilhadia concluded that Etawah goat gelatin meets the requirements for medical use as capsule shells. It can also be adapted for other pharmaceutical industries such as nourishment and cosmetics.

Hydrolysis acid is the method of saturating goat’s skin in a sodium sulfide and calcium hydroxide solution.

In 2007, the world’s gelatin production was dominated by pig skin based gelatin or around 43 percent from the total production. Meanwhile, 29.4 percent of it was based on cow’s skin, 23.1 percent is a mix of pig and cow's bone, and 1.5 percent from fish, clam, and other types of bones.

IMAM HAMDI | ANTARA