Nutritional Evaluation of Developed Supplementary Food (Biscuit) Incorporating Pumpkin Seed Flour for Enrichment

Abstract

There are many initiatives aimed at raising the consumption of locally produced foods in an effort to combat malnutrition; however, consumers need better access to information on the nutritional quality of these foods in order to increase consumer intake. This study aimed to find ways to use pumpkin seeds, which are usually thrown away, in the development of value added food products namely biscuits, standardize to enrich nutritive value of developed product. The seeds were ground into flour to make these pumpkin-seed-flour-based biscuits. These biscuits were produced with 90:10, 80:20, and 70:30 ratios of refined wheat flour to pumpkin seed flour. Physical properties, proximate analysis, antioxidant activity, and sensory attributes have been evaluated for the biscuits. On a 7-point hedonic scale of sensory evaluation, the panelists accepted the pumpkin seed flour based biscuit. The study also reveals that biscuit with 30% pumpkinseed flour supplementation had better nutritional profile. Consequently, the developed biscuit is highly nutrient-dense and can be used to prevent malnutrition as well as can be used as a supplementary food product for all age’s people especially for school going children