Formulation and Quality Assessment of Edible Cups from <i>Sorghum bicolor</i>

Abstract

Single Use Plastics (SUP) are produced and used in vast quantities that creates million tons of non-degradable waste endangering the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem. The current study is focused on standardizing edible cups made of Sorghum millet and assessing its quality in terms of environmentally friendly packaging options. Edible cups from raw, germinated and roasted sorghum flour were standardized with different proportions. Sensory evaluation, optical property, drop resistance, exposure test, texture analyzer, FTIR and in-vivo toxicity were evaluated for the standardized edible cups. Edible cups weigh 16 grams with 2 mm thickness, has the holding capacity of 45 ml of liquid or 60 g of solids. Germinated sorghum cups scored high in sensory evaluation with 8.43 overall acceptability. Optical property indicated that roasted cups were darker and germinated cups were lighter than raw sorghum cups. Roasted sorghum cups holds hot water for more than 30 minutes when exposed at 80ºC, ice cubes and water at ambient temperature for more than one hour with resistance to free fall till 90 cms without any damage. Raw, germinated and roasted cups withstand better break force when observed through texture analyzer. FTIR showed the presence of starch, protein and lipids in sorghum cups. The present study, investigated that germinated sorghum cups are better in sensory and optical property whereas roasted cups hold hot and cold water for longer duration than raw sorghum cups. This research is a hustle step towards reducing the usage of SUP and best solution to overcome plastic pollution in service sectors by eliminating regular waste recycling and nourish living beings by providing healthy cups.