Nutrition & Food Sciences

Biography

Biography: Edzil C. Besonia

Abstract

Information about food composition is necessary for the assessment of diet quality, development and application of food-based dietary guidelines, providing a useful tool for the field of public health nutrition. The study was conducted to determine the effects of varying levels of frying time, cooking time and spin-drying time on the physico-chemical properties of vacuum fried cassava bites. A 3³ fractional factorial experiment following Central Composite Design with different levels of frying time (30, 45, 60 minutes), cooking time (10, 15, 20 minutes) and spin-drying time (2, 4, 6 minutes) were used. Data for all experimental combinations were analyzed employing response surface regression analysis. The physico-chemical, nutritional and proximate, water activity, microbial and storage properties of the optimum process of vacuum fried cassava bites with 50 minutes frying time, 20 minutes cooking time and 6 minutes spin-drying time were evaluated.

            Results on the response surface regression on the physico-chemical properties of the vacuum fried cassava bites revealed significant effects on the product except for the percent recovery and b* color unit. Optimized product has high calorie content along with the other macronutrient like fat, carbohydrates, sodium and crude protein. Storage stability of the product in the weekly monitoring of moisture content, water activity, color determination and sensorial descriptions showed significant difference over the observation period. Evaluation for total plate count and presence of yeast and molds showed a negative result.