Assessment of storage stability and quality parameters of Echinochloa colona (jungle rice) and Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet) pasta
Preeti Ahluwalia
Punjab Agricultural University, India
: J Food Nutr Disor
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the storage stability and different quality parameters of pasta prepared by blending jungle rice and pearl millet in five different combinations ranging from 100 percent jungle rice, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 to100 percent pearl millet. Prepared pasta was packed in Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pouches and stored at ambient temperature for a period of three months. Quality assessments (proximate analysis, antioxidant activity, phenolic content, peroxide value, free fatty acids, β- carotene and flavonoid content) along with overall acceptability were done at one month internals up to three months of storage. Moisture content, peroxide value and free fatty acid content were found to increase significantly while other parameters decreased, maintaining the overall acceptability of pasta during storage life. Pasta stored in HDPE pouches retained better physicochemical and organoleptic quality as compared to LDPE during the entire storage period.
Biography
Preeti Ahluwalia working as associate professor in the department of food science and technology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. I was born and brought up in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. I did my schooling from a local convent school. After school, I did my bachelor’s degree in home science and and my master’s and doctorate in food science and technology. As a teacher I have taught many courses in the field of food technology and to name them a few; processing of cereals, pulses and oilseeds, processing of fruits and vegetables, sensory evaluation of foods, food packaging. My area of interest of work is developing foods for diabetics and celiac patients as there has been a tremendous rise in population suffering from these two diseases over a period of last decade. I have developed gluten free pasta from little millet and an energy bar with quinoa as a major ingredient for celiac patients. Flour with low GI for making chapati was developed which has been commercialised. I plan to continue working on these type of products.
