Development and evaluation of protein enriched RTE extruded food products

Abstract

Malnutrition causes major health problems due to qualitative and quantitative insufficiency of dietary protein and calories intake. Protein energy malnutrition is a serious threat especially in children in developing countries. Fortification or combination of two or more food ingredients can make a solution for this nutritional insufficiency to a certain extend. Food products with improved nutritional profile can be produced by blending legumes. Ready to eat food products are plays a major role in modern consumer’s diets. Extrusion cooking is a novel technology adopted by food industries as it is a rapid, continuous and cost-effective process. Therefore, an investigation has been taken up to develop a protein enriched ready to eat food products from rice, ragi, Bengal gram, ground nut and soybean using extrusion cooking. The feed composition selected for the extrusion were 60% rice, 10% ragi, 10% Bengal gram, 10% soybean and 10% groundnut flour and the physico chemical analysis of the feed mix was conducted and recorded. The process variables used in the study were temperature (120,130 and 140°C), moisture content (12, 14 and 16%) and screw speed (300, 350 and 400 rpm). The optimisation of process parameters was analysed using RSM based on the quality characteristics of the extrudates. The optimum operating conditions of extrusion process namely, barrel temperature, moisture content and screw speed was found to be 140°C, 12.20% and 383.96 (384) rpm respectively. The storage studies of optimally produced extrudates were conducted by using different packaging materials (LDPE and laminated aluminum) and packaging technologies (Active and passive MAP). The extrudates packed in laminated aluminum with active MAP had good overall acceptability after three months of storage and they were microbiologically safe. The total production cost of 1kg of extruded RTE product was found to be Rs. 113.29/-.