Preparation of a Low Cost Nutrient Bar Incorporated with Underutilized Seeds as a Convenient and Functional Meal Replacement Alternative D

Abstract

People with busy lifestyles routinely consume fast food as an easy alternative for main meal. Consequently, they prone to suffer from non-communicable diseases such as diabetics. The purpose of this research was to develop a nutritious bar as a meal replacement under the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) using underutilized seeds such as pumpkin, winged beans, watermelon, corn, mung beans, and rice flakes. The proximate analysis, physicochemical properties, sensory attributes and microbiological parameters were evaluated using the Association of Official Agricultural Chemist standards (AOAC), Human Research Ethics Committee standards (Brazil), and Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLS 516: 1991) respectively. Developed mung based (321), rice flake based (123) and commercial nutrient bar (801) revealed a significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) in attributes except mouthfeel in the sensory evaluation. A mold and a package was designed with an effective packaging material. The shelf-life was evaluated after adding the permitted preservative (E211-Sodium benzoate) to developed mung based (321), rice flake based (123) bars which had a self-life of one-month. The mung based nutrient bar revealed an average of 1.7±0.1 % moisture, 0.9±0.7% fat, 9.7±0.1% ash, 21.8±2.5% crude fibre, 36.6±0.0 % protein, 29.2±8.3% carbohydrates, and the rice flake bar contained an average of 2.2±0.3% moisture, 2.7±0.2% fat, 7.9±0.2 % ash, 11.4±1.4 % crude fibre, 31.9±0.0 % protein, 43.8±0.0 carbohydrates. The commercial nutrient bar had 1.5±0.1% moisture, 1.5±0.0% fat, 7.8±0.0% ash, 0.5±0.5% crude fibre, 32.5±0.0 % protein, and 56.3±3.9% carbohydrates on average. The energy content (kcal) in rice flakes based, mung based and commercial bars were 327.1, 271.3, and 360 respectively. The finding ascertained that the developed nutrient bars (123, 321) directly fulfill the recommended dietary allowance as a meal replacement concerning European Union Commission Regulations and substantiate that the same nutrient profiles in the commercial nutrition bars could be obtained from the developed samples with a lesser processing cost. KEYWORDS: Commercial nutrient bar, meal replacement, recommended dietary allowance, underutilized seeds