News--Welcome to National Chiayi University

　　Held by the Department of Food Science, National Chiayi University, the unveiling ceremony of “Agricultural Product Value-added Proofing Center” took place at the Food Processing Pilot Plant on the Lantan campus on the morning of Oct. 1st. Guests of honor were invited to attend the unveiling ceremony, including Wang Shi-Xian, Director at the Agency of Science and Technology, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan; Tian Chang-Pei, Commissioner of the Economic Affairs Department, Chiayi City Government; and Hsu Chang-Min, Director of the Agriculture Department, Chiayi County Government. When opened, the center is expected to integrate the professional skills of NCYU teachers and the equipment resources of the Food Processing Pilot Plant. The aim is to provide farmers in the Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan region with technical guidance regarding agricultural product processing, ranging from processing product types, actual proofing, packaging design, market planning, to channel sales. They hoped to fully engage farmers in the processed product market from production to primary processing and development. Proofing services will be provided for free by the end of this year.

　　In his remarks, NCYU President Chyung Ay mentioned that NCYU is the only comprehensive university boasting solid research capacity and educational resources in agricultural biotechnology in the Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan region. To fulfill its social responsibility, they have been dedicated to food safety, food and agriculture, and smart agriculture in recent years. Over the years, they have also been assisting government units, private enterprises and local farmers to improve agricultural technology and quality. NCYU is proud to have a wide spectrum of equipment and strong research and development capabilities of the teachers. For example, teachers of the Department of Food Science have developed shrimp drying technology, and guided Yunlin County's young farmers in developing “Fresh Shrimp Rice Noodles,” which won the “Rural Good Products Award 2020.” Scientific research results from academic-industrial cooperation, “Multi-Age Protein Mix with Flavored Sesame” and “Pomelo Tremella Drink” just won the “Top Ten Agricultural and Grain Research and Processed Products in 2021” Award. For a long time, they have been committed to developing and utilizing processed agricultural products to increase farmers’ income, which also helps stabilize the products’ market price and solve the problem of overproduction. The Agricultural Product Value-added Proofing Center established today is expected to provide more comprehensive services on the existing basis.

　　The NCYU Agricultural Product Value-added Proofing Center was set up with funding of over NT$11.03 million from the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan. As one of the honored guests, Wang Shi-Xian, Director at the Agency of Science and Technology, Council of Agriculture, indicated that NCYU is well known for its remarkable strength in the field of agricultural science. By offering farmers with professional technical guidance and bringing in synergy among the agricultural improvement stations of different farm proofing centers under the Council of Agriculture, they hoped to provide technical guidance for farmers on trial mass production, and fill the industrial gap of agricultural products from trial production to trial mass production. This will not only help enhance sample production yields, reduce input costs, but solve the difficulty of local farmers in accessing processing resources. The ultimate goal is to encourage local farmers in southern Taiwan to commit to six-level industrialization in agriculture, thus promoting the overall economic development in the agricultural sector.

　　On the day of the unveiling ceremony, Jan-Jeng Huang, Director of the Office for Academia-Industry Collaboration and Continuing Education, introduced the hygiene and safety design and various professional equipment at the proofing center. The equipment includes: vertical inner and outer bag, triangle tea bag automatic packaging machines; high-temperature tray dryer; trial mass production type, low-temperature hot air drying equipment; low-temperature humidity conditioning dryer; multi-layer stainless steel powder screening equipment; multi-function stir-frying machine; and continuous high-frequency sealing machine. In the upcoming future, it can provide primary processing services such as drying, crushing, milling and roasting. Guidance on product design and packaging is also available., The objective is to assist farmers to create value-added agricultural products, thus presenting consumers with brand-new products made from raw materials.

For more information about the Agricultural Product Value-added Proofing Center, National Chiayi Unversity, please contact Ms. Sun Shi-Wen at 05-2717617.