Effect of Extrusion Parameters on Dietary Fibre, Techno-functional and Sensory Properties of Ready-to-Eat Extruded Snacks Produced from Pearl Millet, Soycake and Rice Bran

Abstract

Fibre-rich food products are gaining attention because of the consciousness of consumers about the health benefits of dietary fibre. Hence, this study investigated the effect of extrusion parameters on dietary fibre, techno-functional and sensory properties of ready-to-eat extruded snacks from pearl millet, soycake and rice bran. Preliminary study was carried out on the raw materials (pearl millet, soycake and rice bran). An optimal mixture design of response surface methodology was employed to get the flour blend (50.00% pearl millet: 32.36% soycake: 17.64% rice bran) with desirable quality used for the production of the extruded snacks: M20T120 (snacks extruded at 20% feed moisture and 120oC barrel temperature), M20T140 (snacks extruded at 20% feed moisture and 140oC barrel temperature), M26T120 (snacks extruded at 26% feed moisture and 120oC barrel temperature) and M26T140 (snacks extruded at 26% feed moisture and 140oC barrel temperature) while CES (a commercial extruded snack) was used as the reference sample. The dietary fibre, techno-functional and sensory properties of the snacks were determined using standard analytical procedures. The soluble dietary fibre, insoluble dietary fibre and total dietary fibre of the extruded snacks ranged from 0.91-2.28 g/100g, 3.85-6.15 g/100g and 4.79-8.43 g/100g respectively. Despite the significant differences between the formulated samples and the reference sample, M20T140 had the highest scores among the formulated snacks in terms of flavour, taste and overall acceptability. Nevertheless, M26T120 had improved dietary fibre that could help to promote healthy lifestyle and low hardness that could help to enhance the acceptability of the formulated snacks by the consumers.