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Spreads are confectionary products based on vegetable fat, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and other ingredients. Spreads are popular and widely accepted by consumers due to its taste, flavour and suitability for consumption either alone or in combination with a variety of other foods. Spreads are very popular among children and hence its nutritional qualities demands special attention. But most of the commercially available spreads are loaded with heavy fat, sugar and many preservatives, which may lead to severe health problems. Moreover the cost of these spreads is also very high. With increasing health awareness among people, much consumer attention has focused on nutritious and healthy spreads. The present study entitled ‘Standardisation and quality evaluation of nutri spreads’ was conducted to standardise nutritionally superior spreads and to evaluate its nutritional, organoleptic and shelf life qualities. Nutri spreads were standardised using 36 different combinations based on peanut paste (PP) and jackfruit seed flour (JSF). The suitability of three different fat sources viz. cocoa butter (CB), unsalted butter (UB) and hydrogenated palm oil (HPO) were also assessed in both PP and JSF nutri spreads. The most acceptable combination of PP based spread and JSF based spread from each fat source were selected for further studies. In PP nutri spreads, the treatments PT4 (60% PP+20% CB), PT9 (65% PP+15% UB) and PT15 (65% PP+15% HPO) were the best based on organoleptic qualities. In nutri spreads based on JSF, the treatments JT12 (25% JSF+ 55% UB) and JT15 (35% JSF+45% HPO) were the found to be the best. These organoleptically best nutri spreads were prepared and packed in PET containers and stored under ambient and refrigerated conditions for a period of three months and evaluated for various quality parameters throughout the storage. The physico-chemical, organoleptic and microbiological qualities of these products were evaluated initially and at monthly intervals.
The textural properties revealed that the brittleness and adhesiveness in the
selected nutri spreads varied from 18.705 mm (PT9) to 25.808 mm (PT15) and 2.789 N
(JT12) to 144.131 N (PT4).
Among various fat sources tried, nutri spread combinations with hydrogenated
palm oil (HPO) retained organoleptic and shelf life qualities upto three months of
storage. The nutrients present in 100 g of PP and JSF nutri spreads were 519.21 Kcal
and 520.02 Kcal (energy), 15.08 g and 6.60 g (protein), 40.49 g and 46.02 g (fat), 5.13
mg and 16.5 mg (calcium), 2.59 mg and 1.86 mg (iron), 3.05 mg and 3.15 mg
(phosphorus), 0.35 mg and 0.67 mg (zinc), 5.27 mg and 8.29 mg (sodium) and 40.70
and 27.60 (potassium) respectively.
The selected nutri spreads were evaluated for bacteria, fungi and yeast. The
presence of bacteria, yeast or mould was not detected initially. After first month of the
storage, the bacterial load present in selected nutri spreads varied from 0.02 x 106 cfu/g
to 0.43 x 106 cfu/g. The fungal colony for the selected nutri spreads were not observed
in initial and first month of storage. After second month of storage, the fungal colony
was observed with a variation of 0.01 x 103 cfu/g (PT15) to 0.83 (JT12) x 103 cfu/g. At
end of the storage, the fungal colonies were increased and varied from 0.03 x 103 cfu/g
(PT15) to 1.02 (JT12) x 103 cfu/g. There was no yeast in any of the selected nutri spreads
throughout the storage period.
Based on nutritional, organoleptic and shelf life qualities, treatments PT15 (65%
PP+15% HPO) and JT16 (35% JSF+ 45% HPO) were found to be the best combinations
and were selected for enrichment.
The selected two combinations were enriched using two protein sources viz.
defatted soya flour (DSF) and skimmed milk powder (SMP) in varying per cent levels
(10% to 50%). Based on organoleptic evaluation among PP nutri spreads, PP nutri
spread replaced with 10% DSF and 20% SMP were found to be the best. Among JSF
nutri spreads, the treatments replaced with with 20% DSF and with 30% SMP were the best and these four treatments were selected for storage studies. Protein content increased in PT1 (20.78g/100 g) and PT7 (20.76 g/100g) after enrichment when compared to control (15.08g/100 g). In JSF nutri spreads, a considerable increase in protein content was observed in JT8 (14.23 g/ 100 g) when compared with control (6.60 g/ 100 g). The mean scores for the overall acceptability of enriched nutri spreads were above 7.00 throughout the storage. The enriched nutri spreads were evaluated initially and during first, second and third month for bacteria, fungal and yeast for a period of three months. The bacteria, fungal and yeast colonies were not detected initially. An increase in bacterial and fungal count were noticed after third month of storage in all the products. Yeast colony was not detected throughout storage period. The selected nutri spreads were shelf stable without any deterioration upto three months of storage in PET containers at both ambient and refrigerated conditions. The cost for selected PP based nutri spread was Rs. 66.18 and for JSF based nutri spread was Rs. 45.13/ 100 g. The cost varied from Rs. 55.25 to Rs. 80.35 / 100 g for selected enriched nutri spreads. The present study found that good quality, nutritious and healthy nutri spreads using locally available ingredients could be prepared without adding any preservatives. The developed nutri spreads contain good amount of nutrients, which is essential for the growth and development of children. These nutri spreads were very cost effective compared to commercially available spreads. The developed nutri spreads have immense scope for popularisation and commercialisation through technology transfer.