Sensory and Nutritional Properties of Protein Enriched Biscuits

Malnutrition remains a major nutritional problem nowadays. So there is a need to develop protein-rich products. Biscuits are extensively used for protein fortification vehicles due to their long shelf life and high acceptability. In the present study, biscuits were produced by substituting the refined wheat flour (RWF) with the foxtail millet flour (FMF), pearl millet flour (PMF), defatted soy flour (DFS) and whey protein isolate (WPI) at different levels. The formulations developed were FMWIB (Foxtail millet whey isolate biscuit), PMWIB (Pearl millet whey isolate biscuit) and MMWIB (Mixed millet whey isolate biscuit) and control (RWB-Refined wheat flour biscuit) contained 100% RWF. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) found among the formulations for all sensory parameters. Proximate analysis of the experimental (MMWIB) and RWB biscuit revealed that addition of millet flours, DFS and WPI significantly (p<0.01) improved the moisture (2.47%), protein (16.6%), ash (1.39%), crude fiber (1.9%) and fat (24.74%) content of the biscuits compared to RWB which were 2.36%, 5.56%, 0.63%, 0.21% and 23.11% respectively. The highest protein value was observed for MMWIB (16.6%) followed by PMWIB (15.81%), FMWIB (15.18%) and RWB (5.56%). MMWIB could contribute 38% of the recommended daily protein intake of 3 to 10 years old and 18% of RDA for adolescents group. Nutritional composition revealed that MMWIB had high TDF (15.49%) and IVPD (62.65%) values than RWB. Therefore, millet flours, DFS and WPI has a good potential for use in biscuit formulation to enhance its nutritional quality and also sensory properties.