Healthy eating: Improved quality biscuits
Biscuits are consumed globally for their nutritional value and can be stored for about six months or more, depending on the packaging and recipe. Biscuits are available in a wide range of shapes, fillings, colors, and toppings, so they are accepted by consumers of all age groups. The basic characteristic that separates a biscuit, cookie, or cracker from other baked products, such as bread or cake, is a moisture content below 5%. Biscuits, cookies, and crackers have a cereal base of at least 60%. Major and minor ingredients used during the manufacturing of biscuits play an important role. The chemistry behind them must be well understood by biscuit manufacturers to maintain quality and avoid batch variations.
Breadfruit biscuits are a nutritional snack option for children and adults.
Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), a tree of the mulberry family (Moraceae), has large fruits and is a staple of the South Pacific and other tropical areas. Breadfruit contains considerable amounts of starch and is seldom eaten raw. It may be roasted, baked, boiled, fried, or dried and ground into flour. The conversion of breadfruit to flour provides a more stable storage form and enhances its versatility.
Catfish is a low-calorie, high-protein seafood that’s a great source of nutrients, including vitamin B12, selenium, and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. It contains lysine as well as vitamin A, necessary for healthy growth.
The value addition chain is necessary for catfish because it will encourage increased production and industrial utilization. This can be done by developing an edible fish meal (EFM) from catfish and using it as a nutritional supplement. EFM is the product obtained from removing water and oil from a whole fish, thereby increasing protein and other nutrients. EFM provides the opportunity of using other nutrients such as calcium that are available in the fish.
A study was carried out to evaluate the quality attributes of biscuits produced from EFM 0‒40%, improved quality breadfruit flour 0‒60%, and some wheat flour 0‒40%. The materials used include the seedless variety of 600 freshly harvested breadfruit, mature catfish, wheat flour, and others gotten at retail. Standard methods were used to determine the color, texture, and other sensory attributes of the biscuit. A numerical optimization technique was used to predict combination/blends that produce biscuits with the desired nutritional content.
One of the researchers, Emmanuel Alamu, IITA Food Science and Technology Associate Scientist, revealed that the EFM used in the biscuit making process served as a source of macro and micronutrients while trying to reduce wheat flour input. The biscuit is nutritionally beneficial to children and adults and is easy to store and carry, making it a perfect everyday snack and meal alternative.
