Physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics of egg based snack food

Abstract

A process for shelf stable, ready-to-eat nutritionally rich egg based snack food referred to as egg crunchy bite (ECB) was developed. The formulation contained mixing of liquid egg (~77%) with a mixture of different binders (~23%); followed by steam cooking, dicing, drying, roasting and seasoning. All the samples were packed in metalized polyester pouches, stored at ambient temperature (25±2 ºC) and analyzed for quality characteristics. The protein and total fat contents of ECB without garlic (ECBC) was 15.48±1.04 and 25.26±1.03% respectively. The ECB with garlic (ECB-G) showed insignificant changes (pe”0.05) in TBA and iodine value during storage. The carotenoid stability was better (pd”0.05) in ECB-G as compared to ECB-C. Both the product showed insignificant changes (pe”0.05) in colour characteristics and breaking force during storage. The in-vitro digestibility of

ECB products was of 71% of the total protein in the sample. Sensory evaluation revealed that overall liking had positive responses of, 84% and 79% for ECB-C and ECB-G respectively after six months storage. The product had relatively good amounts of calcium, iron, zinc and vitamin A, thus making it nutritionally beneficial. Yeast and moulds, <i>E coli</i>, and <i>Salmonella </i>were not detected in both the samples throughout the storage period.