Abstract:
The present study intended to design a healthy bar enhanced with rice flakes and moringa
leaf powder. Formulations were created using the ratio based on a preliminary trial of
moringa leaf powder and rice flakes T1 (0:35), T2 (6:29), T3 (10:25), T4 (14:21), and T5
(18:17), respectively. Other than the major ingredients, the Nutri Bar was produced using
date paste (38%) and honey (8%) as a binding agent and natural sweeteners, chopped
pumpkin seeds (3%), peanuts (10%), raisins (3%), and powdered jaggery (2%). To enhance
the flavour vanilla essence (1%) was used. These ingredients provide excellent sources of
carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, energy, and minerals. Nutri Bar was kept at room
temperature of 25±5 °C and RH 95%. The Completely Randomized Design was employed
and means separation was done with Tukey Pairwise Comparisons in Minitab 19 software.
Physical qualities, sensory attributes, and nutritional composition such as moisture, ash,
protein, fat, calories, fiber, and iron content were investigated for Nutri Bar. Physical
investigation of the Nutri Bar results revealed that length and width were observed with no
significant variation (p>0.05). However, there was a substantial variation in the height and
weight of the Nutri Bars between treatments due to the adding different concentrations of
moringa leaf powder and rice flakes. Nutritious bars were tested organoleptically using a
sensory test. Results of sensory evaluation suggested that T4 and T5 had a greater preference
for overall acceptability and were selected for further study. Nutritional composition data
demonstrated a significant difference (p<0.05) between treatments for moisture content, ash,
protein, fat, calories, fiber, and iron content of the Nutri Bar. Finally, it could be stated that
moringa leaf powder can be utilized for nutrient bar manufacturing and this product is good
for all age groups and malnourished persons.
