Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Enrichment of savoury biscuits with foxtail millet (Setaria italica) for good health

International Conference and Exhibition on Food Processing & Technology

November 22-24, 2012 Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India

Meghana DR, Kamatar MY and Giridhar Goudar

Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Biscuits are the widely consumed baked products, popular among all age groups. These are generally prepared with refined wheat flour, hydrogenated fat and sweeteners and hence low in fibre, high in trans fats and calorigenic. Thus consumption of these biscuits makes the people vulnerable to noncommunicable diseases like diabetes, heart related diseases, colon cancer and so on. Hence to make the biscuits healthy product, an attempt was made enrich them with nutritious foxtail millet using butter which is low in trans fats. Ingredients viz. cumin seeds, bishop?s weed seeds and ginger were selected for savoury biscuits based on their health benefits. To improve flavour and taste coriander leaves, green chillies and salt were added. The combination of all these ingredients was optimized based on results of sensory evaluation on a 9 point hedonic scale conducted by semi trained panellists. Trials were conducted to optimize the incorporation level of foxtail millet. It was found that up to 40% refined wheat flour could be replaced with foxtail millet to obtain acceptable sensory characteristics along with increase in the fibre and nutrients. It was observed that fibre and mineral content of millet savoury biscuits was 3.5 and 1.5 times respectively higher than control biscuits indicating its suitability for diabetics and improving their health. Texture of the biscuits was studied using Texture Analyser. It was observed that textural properties did not vary significantly and were acceptable by the sensory evaluation panel. These millet savoury biscuits are suitable snack for diabetics as they contain high fibre and less calorigenic than sweet cookies. Further studies are required to determine the glycemic index of these biscuits. Different flavours may be tried with the incorporation of nutraceutical ingredients to create variants for consumer attraction.

Biography :

Meghana D.R. has completed her M.Sc. (Food Science and Nutrition) from University of Mysore in the year 2008. Presently working as Research Associate in ICAR-NAIP project on Enrichment and Popularization of Potential Food Grains for Nutraceutical Benefits at University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.